Heart of the Jedi
by SithAlex2014
Summary: Found by Jedi Master Fay and raised to be a Jedi, Harry James Potter will change the course of the future and change the fate of the Jedi forever as the Heart of the Jedi! Strong Harry! Final pairing undecided.
1. Meeting of Fate

**Disclaimer:**** All publicly recognizable characters, setting, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. All other concepts and ideas from other books or stories belong to their respective authors. No copyright infringement is intended.**

* * *

**Earth solar system, 41 BBY (959 years after Ruusan Reformation)**

A civilian craft dropped out of hyperspace inside the Earth solar system in the Unknown Regions, just outside of Saturn's gravitational pull. The shuttle seemed to pause for a moment before piloting the craft toward the third planet of the system.

Inside the cockpit of the craft, one Jedi Master Fay was wondering what in the Force she was supposed to be doing out here in the Unknown Regions. Earlier that month she had received a powerful pull from the Force originating from this region. At first, she'd wondered if she was imagining things but after a week and the pull only getting stronger, she had bowed to the will of the Force. She bought a small, space-worthy vessel with her requirements that would get her to her destination and left to where the Force led her.

Not knowing if the place where she was headed even had spaceship technology, much less knew about the Republic, Fay had brought enough to hopefully arrive, do what she needed to and return.

The trip had not been easy. Being in the Unknown Regions, there were no starcharts or hyperspace routed to her destination. All she had to rely on was the Force and her own ability of instinctive astrogation to arrive at her destination.

However, it seemed to be enough because after three weeks of constant travel, the Force call was clearer than ever and leading her toward the third planet of the system.

From space, the planet reminded Fay of Alderaan only with slightly larger bodies of water. Other than that, it looked to have a breathable atmosphere and was a planet perfect for human life. It was a surprise since most planets in the Unknown Regions were barely hospitable to human life. However, as the clouds cleared, Fay saw something that caused her frown in recognition.

Large craters were visible here and there on the planet and the area around the craters showed heavy signs of radiation if what the Force told her was any indication. Preliminary scans told her they were caused by primitive nuclear bombs of some type and that the atmosphere, while still breathable, was about five decades away from collapsing if more nuclear bombs were unleashed. Luckily, from the radio transmissions she was intercepting, the fighting had stopped for now or at least they were no longer using those bombs anymore.

Expertly piloting her ship into the atmosphere, Fay activated the stealth features so the ship was invisible from view. They had cost a bit more but she'd felt she'd need them to avoid conflict and was now glad to have installed them.

Fay felt the Force calling her to a specific landmass which was a large landmass just off the west coast of the largest continent of the world. The landmass also had the largest collection of craters meaning it had been hit the hardest, especially amongst its center and northern parts.

Scans indicated that there were various radio signals of many different kinds but that the technology wasn't at the same level as the rest of the galaxy. They had landed on their moon but no further signs of space technology development was visible. At one point they seemed to have had a world council of some kind with representatives of each nation but that seemed to have ended when whatever war caused those craters started. Hopefully, once peace returned so would that council. It was the first step to a world government, after all, and hopefully someday they would be advanced enough for consideration for entrance into the Republic.

Rather than pilot the ship toward where she felt the Force calling her, Fay piloted it a little further south. The area where the Force called her was close to a crater and before she ventured into possible hostile territory, she wanted to familiarize herself with the culture here.

For that reason, Fay piloted her ship toward a nearby town and landed far outside visual range. Just to be certain, she landed inside a dense forest to further prevent any chance of the ship being found.

That done, Fay stepped off the ship to study this new world.

* * *

Fay was deep in thought as she entered her ship after making sure she wasn't followed as she contemplated what she'd learned. The language hadn't been difficult to learn thanks to the Force and while she had an accent, it was barely noticeable unless one looked for it.

From her information, the war that caused those nuclear missiles to be launched was started when a dark-side Force-user named Voldemort attacked the non Force-using population around two years ago. Apparently, in this world the Force-users and the non Force-users were separated completely. There was little interaction between the two groups and in fact, it could be said that there were two worlds within this one planet.

From what she had seen, the non Force-users or "muggles" as the Force-users called them (something she disapproved of since it further separated the Force-users from the others), were the ones with technology capable of reaching their moon. They were also the ones with nuclear technology and while they didn't have laser technology yet, their weapons were fairly good for their stage of development.

The Force-users, on the other hand, were disgustingly backwards in many respects. While they used robes like Jedi and even channeled a primitive version of the Force, that was where the similarities with Jedi ended. They were staunch traditionalists who still used _candles_ for Force's sake and even used common birds to send messages! Funnily enough, they thought what they used was magic and called themselves wizards much like some primitive planets thought Jedi were magicians of some kind. But by far the worse news was that the Force-users were divided but not between dark-side users and light-side users but between various political beliefs.

Some believed they shouldn't mingle with "muggles" in any way and that they were, in fact, superior to them. These were easily identified as the ones who called her a "Veela" when they saw her and attempted to "own" her either through money or force. Apparently, her exotic beauty was similar to another species on the planet and she was often confused with them for that reason. It had been shockingly easy to use a mind trick on them to make them go away, making her shake her head at them being unable to resist even a basic Force ability.

The other major faction amongst the Force wielders believed in co-existence with non Force-users though Fay believed it was more like they looked down and pitied them as inferior to them. While much preferable to the former, Fay couldn't help but think them arrogant and foolish. Just because they could not touch the Force did not mean they were inferior and Fay had met many a bounty hunter more than capable of taking down even Jedi Masters in the right circumstances.

The last faction was the neutral faction which either didn't care or willingly chose not to side with the former two factions. This faction was, unfortunately, the weakest and smallest of the three and becoming smaller by the day as more and more were forced to choose sides in the growing conflict.

This was due to the civil war that was still going on within the Force-users group. Apparently the former two factions were at war over their beliefs, each with their own leaders. The first faction was led by the so-called "Voldemort" which started the war against the non Force-users and the second was led by one "Albus Dumbledore".

From her information, the magical war had actually stopped for around two years about four years ago. He had apparently been defeated by a one-year old boy named Harry Potter and the war had apparently ended with his defeat. Fay was disgusted to hear that the boy was hailed as the "Boy-Who-Lived" by the Force-users due to being the only survivor from Voldemort's attack when his parents were killed. She found it bad taste to give him a title that would constantly remind him of his parents' death. While Jedi practiced detachment from all things, even she admitted that being constantly reminded of your parents' death was cruel.

However, about two years after his "fall", Voldemort had apparently risen again thanks to his followers (which were for some reason not brought to justice) and the war had restarted once more.

To make things worse, Voldemort had decided to celebrate his return by attacking the non Force-users in broad daylight where thousands of cameras filmed it. The reveal of the existence of Force-users, especially violent ones, had obviously not gone over well with the world. Even if the world leaders knew of their existence, she could have predicted what would happen next without even using the Force.

Like all politicians, they decided to save their own hides and condemned the Force-users. They had retaliated by launching nuclear missiles on known magical settlements... of _other_ countries. This, obviously, started a war between the non Force-using countries and with the unspoken taboo of not using nuclear weapons broken, nuclear war followed.

Fortunately, the use of nuclear weapons stopped when they realized the damage they were doing to their atmosphere and they fell back on other, less self-damaging weapons. The war was still going on across the world as countries allied against their enemies. No one even remembered who threw the first bomb and were just racing to defeat their rivals using it as an excuse.

The only good part was that the war had saved the few Force-users left from being exterminated and they had regrouped according to beliefs. From her information, the faction in favor of co-existence (which was far smaller now after the non Force-users show of power) lived in the few habitable parts of the northern part of this landmass, which she learned was called the United Kingdom or Britain, while Voldemort's faction had moved to Germany. So for now, there was a cease-fire while both factions regained their strength from near extinction.

This told Fay that whatever was calling to her was part of the co-existence faction. While preferable to the other faction, she would have preferred not to get involved with either faction at all. Things were tense at the moment and the knowledge of life outside of their own world, much less of a much larger and stronger faction capable of wielding the Force, could be what started the war again.

Yet she had little choice. The Force was compelling her in that direction and that was where she would go. Hopefully, she could find whatever it was that the Force was leading her toward and figure out what it was that the Force wanted.

* * *

**Hogwarts castle, Northern Scotland**

Hogwarts castle was a large, seven-story high building supported by magic, with many towers and turrets and very deep dungeons, built in the late Early Middle Ages by a wizard architect and the four most celebrated wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. The Castle housed Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which was regarded as the finest wizarding school in the world. Hogwarts was located in the Scottish Highlands, near the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade and not far from Dufftown, in Banffshire, and Achintee, in Lochaber.

Hogwarts was built in a valley area with surrounding mountains as part of the landscape, with the fairly large Black Lake to the south of the main building. The huge main oak front doors leading into the Entrance Hall face the west, and open up to sloping lawns. The deep Forbidden Forest extended around the west side of the Castle.

All in all, the castle was a magnificent sight to behold that inspired awe and joy in all those who visited it. Yet to one little boy sitting at the shore of the Black Lake, it was more a prison than a home.

Five year old Harry Potter was sitting next to the Black Lake, absently throwing pieces of bread at the giant squid. Not even seeing the squid lift a tentacle out of the water to grab the pieces of bread could lift Harry's mood. After all, Harry had seen the same sight hundreds of times over the past year so it had lost its novelty by now.

Harry was a slightly skinny boy with messy black hair and striking emerald green eyes. His skin was slightly pale, though tanner than it had been, and he was dressed black robes similar to a Hogwarts student's yet tailored for his age. However, the most characteristic part of him was the lightning bolt scar on his forehead that looked like it was fresh despite it haven been given to him over three years ago on the night his parents died.

When Harry had first found out he had magic, he had thought it would be the answer to all his dreams of escaping the Dursleys. He had thought he would be free to be himself and actually be happy. However, this was not to be.

Harry was sitting outside after an argument with his current guardian, Mr. Dumbledore, earlier. Harry had asked to go visit the children his own age in Hogsmeade only to be denied by Dumbledore for the hundredth time. While kind and patient, Harry never understood why Dumbledore wouldn't let him leave the castle and make friends with children his own age. Every time he asked, Dumbledore said it would 'cause problems' and that he 'wasn't safe' and then changed the subject.

Harry was smart for his age. Smart enough to realize that Dumbledore was purposefully hiding him from the rest of the wizarding populace. It was summer now so he was confined to the castle with only Dumbledore, Filch and his mangy cat, and one or two teachers who stayed over the summer for company. He was just glad Snape wasn't one of those teachers. Harry didn't like the man. He reminded him far too much of the Dursleys only worse. During the school year, Harry was confined to either Dumbledore's chambers or the unused portion of the castle which was warded so he couldn't leave it or anyone could enter it.

More and more, Harry was comparing his life here at Hogwarts with his one with the Dursleys. His three short years there had been full of being unloved and being forced to do their chores or be beaten. They had constantly belittled him and called him a freak for being a wizard (not that he knew that at the time). The fact that they didn't care about him was driven home when they gave him to a near stranger (Dumbledore) the moment he came asking for Harry a year ago. All in all, life at the Dursleys was one where they didn't care what happened to him or if he got hurt in any way.

Living with Dumbledore was the direct opposite. He was cared for to the point that it was smothering. The teachers were nice and kind but always wanted to keep him protected from some nameless evil and therefore, treated him as if he was made of glass. The few times they'd showed him some magic, they always said he would be good at this or that discipline because his _parents_ were good at it. The constant comparisons to parents he never knew was extremely grating on him to the point he simply stopped asking to be shown magic, if only to stop the constant comparisons.

The fact they refused to _talk_ about his parents only compounded his frustrations. He was assured that they weren't drunks that died in a car crash but they refused to tell him how they _did_ die. They said he was too young and when they spoke of their Hogwarts years, they constantly said he would be like this or that because his _parents_ were like that. It was like they expected him to be a perfect copy of one of his parents depending on each teacher's personal preference.

However, with him avoiding the teachers for that reason he had no one else to talk to. He was forbidden from going to Hogsmeade and meeting other children his age for some reason and he couldn't visit other places either. He had heard of Diagon Alley but he was told it was destroyed around two years ago by muggles. When he asked why, they simply told him that they would tell him when he was older. When he asked to visit other, non-magical places, he was told that it was difficult for wizards to fit in amongst muggles and because of that, they would easily be found by their muggle enemies.

So basically, Harry was stuck with no place to go or anyone to talk to and the loneliness was killing him. Sometimes he fervently wished for someone, maybe some long-lost family member or relative, to come and take him away from all this. To take him around the world or even introduce him to some siblings he didn't know he had. He wouldn't even mind to ask why they hadn't come for him earlier as long as they loved him and took him away from here.

Yet he knew it was a foolish dream. Dumbledore had told him his parents were dead and that he had no siblings before they died. He was alone.

Suddenly, Harry turned his head to the sky when he felt... _something_ coming from that direction. It was similar to the feeling he got whenever someone used magic but …. richer and deeper somehow. As if what he sensed before was just the tip of the iceberg and what he was sensing now was the whole pie in all its rich flavor. It was like when Dumbledore got angry and radiated magic but even stronger by far.

At first, Harry couldn't see anything and thought he was imagining things, yet then he started to see... _something_. Yet at the same time, he couldn't see anything. He narrowed his eyes and tried to see better even with his terrible eyesight that required glasses at age four, and started to see something.

It was similar to seeing something through a slightly warped window. It was only by comparing the rest of the sky to that spot that he saw the slight distortion in the air that told him something was there. At first, he thought it was simply the heat but he thought again when he saw the distortion get closer and slightly to the side.

It wasn't someone on a broom, it was much too large for that, yet it was obviously flying. Could it be a muggle airplane like he sometimes saw? Yet it was going far too slowly to be one of those either.

For some reason, Harry felt as if he should go toward where he saw the distortion landing not far from him and did so. Harry walked slowly forward and heard strange noises as he approached the distortion that landed on the ground. He jumped in shock when what could only be a spaceship suddenly appeared where the distortion was. It reminded him of that spell Dumbledore showed him once that turned things into a chameleon so it was almost invisible unless you looked for it.

Harry watched as the ship opened and a walkway dropped almost right in front of him. Slowly, he looked up to find someone standing at the top of the ramp.

A female hooded figure made its way down the ramp and toward a still Harry who felt something inside him reaching out toward the figure. It was like he should know the person yet knew that he had never laid eyes on this woman before. The figure stared at him for a moment before lowering her hood.

Harry hadn't seen many women before, the only ones he had regular contact with being Professor Trewalney and McGonagall. He had once met a Veela who was visiting Dumbledore though and had thought her to be the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

He would have to change her to the second most beautiful woman he'd ever seen now.

The woman was pale much like him with blond hair and pointy ears like the elves he read about in story books. In fact, everything about her reminded him of elves, much more than even the house-elves that worked in the kitchen. She was beautiful in an ageless way and he couldn't seem to pinpoint her age. She looked twenty at most yet had an air of being older than even Dumbledore.

As for Master Fay, she was also studying Harry but in a slightly surprised manner. It was obvious that this was the one the Force was guiding toward and now that she saw him with her own eyes and felt him through the Force, it was obvious why.

_'By the Force!'_ thought Fay in shock. _'I've never felt the Force so strongly in someone so young. I don't even need to test his blood to know his midi-chlorian count must far surpass the seven thousand minimum for entry into the Order. I wouldn't be surprised if he surpassed my own fifteen thousand per cell!'_

Indeed, the Force flowed strongly from the boy before her. Such raw Force potential was almost unheard of and only her master, Grand Master Yoda himself, probably had more Force potential than him. And he was only five at the most!

Furthermore, she felt something that assured her that this was the boy she was looking for.

All Master and their Padawans had a Force bond between them that strengthened with time. Through this Force bond, they could sense their apprentices or Master's distress or status even light years away. Her own with her former Master was still in place, although it was weaker than it had been due to not having seen him in centuries. Fay herself had never taken a Padawan of her in her 600+ years of wandering the galaxy and thought she never would.

Yet before her eyes was a boy strong in the Force and already she could feel the beginning of a Master-apprentice bond forming between them. They hadn't even spoken and already a bond was forming! There could be no doubt, the Force led her to this boy and wanted her to take him as an apprentice. His potential alone would have assured her doing her best efforts to train him as a Jedi, but the bond being formed between them assured that she would take him as her own apprentice instead of sending him to the Temple as she had countless other potentials she'd come across.

Though one thing troubled her.

Deep inside his aura was a black taint. At first she'd thought it was a part of him but further study through the Force told her differently. It was almost like a... _leech_ or parasite attached to his own being, nourishing itself off his own pure Force energy to maintain itself. Whatever it was reeked of the dark side and the first thing she'd do once she had time was remove it as long as it didn't unduly harm the boy.

Realizing they had done nothing but stare at each other for the past five minutes, Fay smiled softly at the boy. "Hello there. My name is Jedi Master Fay. What is your name?"

Harry shook himself from his reverie and smiled at the woman. For some reason he felt safe and secure around her, safer than he had ever felt before. "Hello, my name is Harry Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you." Harry looked from the ship to the woman, only now sinking in that this was an honest to God SPACESHIP in front of him! "Are you really from space?!"

Fay looked amused at his blunt question and nodded. "Indeed but perhaps this is a conversation to have somewhere else? Can you take me to your parents?"

Harry looked down at that and scuffed the ground slightly. "My parents are dead, ma'am." Fay winced at that and was about to apologize when he spoke up again. "But I can take you Professor Dumbledore. He's my current guardian so I guess you could talk to him."

Fay noticed the way he called this Professor Dumbledore his guardian and not parent or anything along those lines. She also felt the slight bitterness that he felt toward the man, making her wonder just what happened between him and his guardian to make him feel that way. "Then lead the way, young one."

Harry smiled as he led the beautiful yet strange woman toward the castle.

* * *

**Headmaster's office, Hogwarts, Scotland**

Albus Dumbledore was tired.

When Voldemort first fell at the hands of young Harry Potter, he had sang for joy. He knew that Voldemort wasn't dead permanently. No, his former student turned Dark Lord had researched too much into ways to prolong his life for it to be that easy. However, he had hoped for a reprieve long enough to once gather his strength and his forces for when he returned.

However, he had made a critical mistake. He had thought that with Voldemort gone, his followers, who he had thought followed him only out of fear would be content to reintegrate into society. He had thought that, while obviously believing Voldemort's nonsense about blood supremacy, they would be too cowardly to continue their acts or attempt to resurrect him.

He had been a fool.

He should have seen the warning signs when the Longbottoms were attacked by Voldemort's followers soon after his fall. They had been searching for their master to resurrect him but had been captured and he had foolishly thought that would be the end of that.

Yet it hadn't. Not two years after his fall, one of his followers, none other than the true traitor Wormtail had resurrected his master. Worse yet was that Dumbledore himself hadn't been aware until Voldemort gathered his followers once more and celebrated his return and supposed 'immortality' by attacking muggles... in broad daylight!

That was when things got even worse.

The muggles had been content to leave them to their affairs as long as they didn't openly move against them. Despite what most wizards thought, Albus knew that they were no longer the barbarians with metal swords and shields of time long past.

No. Albus had fought in the Second World War as they called it and seen the horrors muggles could do to each other, much less to wizards. How could wizards fight against people with guns that could shoot bullets faster than one could blink? Sure they could make a shield to defend against it but it would only work if they prepared it beforehand and even then, it would only work for a certain amount of force. Those shields had been made for arrows and swords in mind, not high-caliber bullets and grenades! They would have ripped through their shields faster than they could cast another and that would be the end of that.

Yet Voldemort, who had been raised in the muggle world, had discounted them. Thinking that his magic made them no threat to his power and that he could what he liked. What could muggles do when they could teleport away without them being able to stop them?

It turned out that they could do quite a bit. The day the first nuclear bombs dropped on their Wizarding establishments had been something out of a nightmare. It turned out that while they couldn't see their villages due to magic, they could simply pan over the land searching for places where there was static due to high concentrations of magic. This would point to that place being a wizarding location and they'd drop their bombs.

The only ones spared had been those who lived in manors far away from any other wizarding places, usually manors of neutral families who lived in the country, and those here at Hogwarts at the time. The wards around the school had proven adequate enough to withstand the assault and luckily, it had been during the school year that it happened so most of the wizarding world's children had been here, safe and sound.

Still, the damage had been done and within a year, the world's wizarding population had been dropped to a bare one thousand worldwide, not counting the children at Hogwarts at the time. Ironically enough, the muggleborns had been amongst most of the survivors. Unable to find work in the wizarding world, they had returned to the muggle one and so had not been in any wizarding village when the bombs landed. It was an ironic twist that a man who wanted to wipe muggleborns out managed to wipe out more purebloods with a single act than had died in centuries.

After the bombs dropped and Dumbledore discovered that Voldemort had survived and was actively searching for Harry, Dumbledore had moved. As much as he wanted to trust Lily's blood wards, with wizards now public knowledge he couldn't trust Harry's safety amongst muggles. Already, religious groups had been forming to hunt down the rest of them to finish them off.

Dumbledore had never been so glad to make that decision when he found Harry's living arrangements. The very idea that family would place their own blood inside a cupboard to sleep was inconceivable to him, much less than they showed him nothing but hatred. Dumbledore wouldn't have been surprised if they gave Harry up as a wizard at the first sign of accidental magic.

And so Dumbledore had taken Harry to Hogwarts only to face another problem for young Harry.

With Voldemort's return and the subsequent attack by the muggles, many of the survivors had wodnered where young Harry Potter was and why he wasn't around to save them. The grief of dead loved one and the subsequent destruction of their world had turned into a fervor to reclaim it by any means. Somehow, he didn't know how, word had gotten out that young Harry was actually destined to defeat Voldemort. They had taken that to mean that with Voldemort's defeat everything would return to what it once was and now desperately searched for young Harry to force him to 'complete his destiny', never mind that he was only five!

With a heavy heart, Dumbledore was forced to change one prison for another and keep Harry locked within the castle walls and swearing all the staff to secrecy using Unbreakable Oaths. As much as he wanted to trust that they would never tell, the fact that the prophecy, while not the contents, had gotten out told him that such secrets couldn't be left to chance. Especially with Severus working as double agent with Tom, it was imperative that Tom never found out Harry was here. The Unbreakable Oath only ensured that in his mind.

Dumbledore hated to cage young Harry but he had little choice. If he let him out for others to find him, he'd be lynched or sacrificed by the mobs thinking the prophecy meant he'd win no matter what his age. It was a hard choice but it was for the best for everyone.

Suddenly, the wards rang telling him an _extremely powerful_ magical being had entered through the wards, ripping through the anti-flight wards like they weren't even there.

Dumbledore was instantly on his feet, connecting to the wards for more detailed information on the intruder and felt himself shake in fear.

In all his decades of life, he had never felt such a powerful magical signature. It made his own seem like a first year's in comparison and he felt it was actually _hiding_ most of its power. Only young Harry surpassed it in raw potential yet unlike young Harry, it had the slight sense of having been trained and mastered, not unlike his own if only far larger in scale. Whatever it was well beyond his abilities to confront, much less defeat.

The shock of the signature's power had kept him from sensing young Harry's proximity to the power but once he did, Dumbledore felt as if he'd have a heart attack.

If the being was dangerous in anyway, he was too far away to do anything about it. Even if he used Fawkes, Dumbledore sensed he would be far too late if the being had hostile intentions.

His thoughts froze when Dumbledore realized something. While the wards had warned him that the being had broken through the anti-flight wards, none of the other wards for people with hostile intentions had activated. This meant that whoever this was had no hostile intentions for anyone within the castle, which made him let out a sigh of relief he hadn't known he was holding.

If the being wasn't hostile then perhaps they could be an ally? Whatever they were, he would soon find out since he felt young Harry leading them toward his office. He was glad that he'd sent everyone away on errands today, meaning if this turned ugly there would be less casualties.

Dumbledore told them to come in when he felt them at the door of his office, inwardly preparing himself to face what he thought would be a extremely powerful wizard of terrifying power.

Yet instead of a terrifying being of power that haunted the nightmares of children, the door opened to reveal young Harry and beautiful young woman who couldn't be more than twenty standing beside him.

Dumbledore blinked in shock and if it wasn't for his senses telling him that, yes this was the being he'd sensed through the wards, he would have he was going senile. Yet he knew that appearances were deceiving and so despite the gentle smile he sent them, he had his guard up and his mind sharp for any deception.

"Good afternoon, Harry. And who might this be?" asked Dumbledore cautiously. He knew Harry was still probably angry at him for denying him the chance to visit children his own age but if this woman was hostile, he didn't want him caught in the crossfire.

Harry surprised Dumbledore by smiling at him, looking much calmer than he'd ever seen him. "This Jedi Master Fay, did I say it right?" At the woman's gentle smile and nod, he continued. "She came in a spaceship, old man! Dropped right out of the sky and landed in the forest! It was invisible one second and the next it was there! And she says she wants me to go train under her to be a Jedi!"

Dumbledore smiled genuinely at Harry's excitement, not having seen him that happy since he had come to collect him from the Dursleys. It warmed his heart to see him so happy. Too long had Harry been moping around, rightfully angry at being trapped within the castle walls unable to leave.

Then what he said sunk in and Dumbledore looked up at the woman in shock and caution who simply looked serenely back at him. "Really? That's certainly interesting. Well, Harry, why don't you go to the kitchens and tell the elves to prepare dinner for our guest? I don't wish for them to mistakenly make something she might not like so it's best you go yourself."

Harry was too excited to see this as an attempt to leave the room and quickly nodded before leaving the room towards the kitchens.

This left both Dumbledore and Jedi Master Fay, the former of which was looking at the woman with a serious look on his face while the latter simply stared serenely back.

"I think we need to talk, Miss Fay," said Dumbledore firmly.

Fay smiled slightly and sat in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk with an air of queen deigning to amuse a subject. "Yes, I do believe we must."

* * *

"Am I really leaving with you, Master Fay?" asked Harry excitedly as he stood in front of the walkway to Fay's ship with the woman.

Fay simply smiled indulgently at the boy's enthusiasm. After so long wandering the Outer Rim fixing problems and putting out fires, the boy's enthusiasm was a breath of fresh air. "Yes, you will be coming with me. Your guardian, Mr. Dumbledore, has given you into my care and we shall travel the galaxy together. During this time I will train you to be a Jedi. You remember what I told you about the Jedi?" Harry nodded excitedly. "Then are you still sure you wish to become a Jedi? It is a hard life, Harry. One without reward or acknowledgment. Do you still wish to become a Jedi?"

Harry nodded, a serious look on his face. "I know it may be hard but I'm a hard worker and I don't turn away from things just because they might be difficult." Harry then gave a sheepish smile. "Plus, I really want to see the galaxy! Traveling to other worlds and seeing different people! It sounds really exciting!"

Fay smiled at her new apprentice's words, glad to have convinced Dumbledore to let him. Sure, it had taken a slight bit of Force persuasion and a promise that he'd return once he was grown up but in the end, the Force's will had been accomplished. She could literally feel the Force's approval at their coming together as Master and apprentice. While she did not believe things were pre-determined per se, she did believe that Harry was meant to become her apprentice. She had once thought she was not meant to teach others, but it seemed as if the Force thought otherwise and she bowed to its wisdom.

Turning to Dumbledore who was standing nearby, Fay bowed to the man. "I thank you for letting young Harry come with me and learn to be a Jedi. Be assured that he will return once to complete the prophecy of which you spoke."

Personally, Fay did not put much stock in this prophecy. This Voldemort may be terrible within this single world but he was no true Dark Lord and as far as she knew the Sith were dead.

Though there were rumors about a Rule of Two...

Shaking off such thoughts, Fay focused back on Dumbledore who was saying goodbye to young Harry.

"I know I have made many mistakes regarding you, young Harry," said Dumbledore, for once looking his century plus of age. "But all I have done was in hopes to give you a better life. Miss Fay has promised you that better life away from all this war and death. I do not know what awaits in our people's future but I can rest easy knowing you will be our legacy out there somewhere."

Dumbledore took out a small box before enlarging it to show it was a large trunk. "Inside are copies of almost every book in our library, the legacy of our people. I hope you will learn from it as well as from Miss Fay and keep our people's legacy alive."

Harry looked down for a moment and bit his lip before looking back at Dumbledore with a genuine smile. "I may not have liked a lot of things that you did... but you did take me away from the Dursleys and while life here wasn't perfect, it was a far cry better than life with them. So for that, I'm thankful Professor as well as for letting me go with Miss Fay and make something of myself. I promise I won't let you down."

Dumbledore smiled warmly. "You never have, Harry. You never have."

The two hugged for a moment, the previous tension between them forgiven and forgotten before Harry turned and, dragging the trunk behind him, walked toward where Master Fay stood.

"Are you ready, my Padawan?" asked Fay serenely. Force, it felt strange to call him that! This would take some getting used to. She'd never had a Padawan before so this would be a first for both of them.

Harry smiled and nodded, excitement building in his chest. "I'm ready, Master Fay."

With that, the two walked up the ramp and into the ship. Outside of the ship, Dumbledore watched as the ramp closed before the ship seemed to hum for a second. Slowly, the ship lifted off the ground as if lifted by a thousand Levitation Charms and flew out of the clearing and into space, leaving behind an old man that hoped Harry would have a better life out in the stars than he would have trapped here on Earth.

* * *

**AN: I hope you liked this introductory chapter. For those who don't know the timeline, Harry is about four years older than Anakin and this was set nine years before the Invasion of Naboo. So by the time that comes around, he will have been a Padawan for quite a while though I won't have him take part in that unlike other writers.**

**Since as far as I know, Master Fay doesn't use lightsabers _at all_, his training will be more focused on Force abilities than lightsaber combat. Oh, don't worry, he'll build his lightsaber and everything but his main focus will be his Force abilities.**

**Please Review!  
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	2. Dantooine and Hard Lessons

**Disclaimer:**** All publicly recognizable characters, setting, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. All other concepts and ideas from other books or stories belong to their respective authors. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**AN: I really have new respect for SW writers like Angeldoctor. This chapter took so long to get out simply to find a suitable planet in the Outer Rim for what I had in mind! Did you know there's more than 200 planets whose names start with A or B alone?! And having to check over each one for the appropriate climate, locations and be a place where two Jedi could stay without raising any eyebrows while still giving them access to tech they need was hard! I have WAY more respect for SW writers now. Just keeping it all straight much be frustrating as hell!**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

* * *

**Khoonda Plains, Dantooine**

**Raioballo Sector, Outer Rim Territories**

**39 BBY (961 years after Ruusan Reformation)**

Fay hummed to herself as she looked over the information on her datapad. She was currently sitting on a medium-sized flat rock in the middle of large plain full of grass with only her ship and a few rocks situated nearby. It had been over two years since she'd picked up young Harry Potter from his homeworld and taken him as her Padawan and in that time she devoted herself to either his education, both normal and Force training, or translating the books given to them by Dumbledore.

Instead of taking him to the Temple as was the norm for any potential candidates, Fay had decided to train Harry herself and made his education more dynamic through hands-on experience. It would give him a more well-rounded and no doubt interesting childhood than other younglings and give her unrestricted access into how to train him.

She'd always considered the way they trained younglings too narrow and insulated and it never took into account younglings with special needs. For example, her own race were extremely attached to the Living Force and during her time as a youngling, she had found her closed-in room at the Temple suffocating. When she expressed her complaints about it, they had simply told her to meditate on the Force and through that, overcome it. The end result had been her almost dying due to being separated from living plants for too long and it was only thanks to the intervention of her later Jedi Master, Yoda, that she survived.

While she had long gotten over her species' ingrained weakness to being separated from living things, the experience had taught her that some younglings required special consideration in their training. Young Harry, for example, would have probably been first taken into a class to purge him of any lingering attachments to his old life, the Masters no doubt feeling that such attachments would be dangerous. This would be disastrous since such actions would remind Harry of his abusive childhood followed by being basically caged within Hogwarts unable to leave. This would put him in danger of falling to the dark side due to anger and resentment for feeling that he had basically traded one cage and controlling Master for another.

No, what he needed now was positive reinforcement and to be given the freedom to travel as he wanted. Traveling the galaxy with her would also rid him of the feeling of being caged and controlled while her presence gave him a much needed mother-figure. She knew this could lead to him becoming attached to her but she would risk it for now. If the attachment became too much then she'd deal with it then.

Fay frowned slightly as she looked down at the datapad holding the translated information about the 'magic' of Harry's people.

Fay had found herself torn between fascination and horror at some of the things Harry's people could do. On one hand, the sheer versatility and diversity of spells and skills in their power given their low Force connection was extremely impressive. Transfiguration, while similar to Alter Environment on a much smaller scale, was much more detailed and versatile than the Jedi equivalent. That wasn't even counting Legilimency and Occlumency which Fay was determined to both learn and teach to her Padawan due to its use in controlling emotions. In a lot of ways, it was similar to a light-side equivalent to Sith magic which excited her greatly with its potential capabilities.

Though she had sigh in exasperation when she found no less than twenty books on spells for household 'Charms' and the like that could easily be done by hand. It seems that like all people, when left alone and no reason to use their 'magic' for the good of others, the natural human response was to use the Force to make one's life easier. Not unexpected but certainly exasperating at times.

On the other hand, some of the darker spells she'd read about made even her shudder at the thought of being subjected to them. The Unforgivables, in particular, were terrible in her mind. Force lightning, a long accepted Sith ability, may cause pain and can be used for torture but it was not geared toward the latter per se. The Cruciatus, however, had no other use but torture. It was meant to cause pain and have the caster _revel_ in their victim's agony in order to cast. No, that was one spell that she was determined to erase all traces of. Anyone who used it would inevitably fall to the dark side and at least Harry's people had the sense to outlaw it though they didn't erase all traces of its existence.

The Killing Curse and Imperius Curse were equally horrifying, not only due to their effects but due to the emotions needed to cast them. To hate someone so much that you wish to kill them over everything else was a sure sign of immersion in the dark side and from what she read, this Voldemort character could cast the spell as if he was giving out candy! The Imperius was also dangerous in how the caster needed to wish to dominate and control others in order to cast. Something no Jedi, or even decent person, should ever desire. The other Dark Arts spells mentioned and sometimes showed were also dangerous to learn in her mind and so she separated the spells into Light, Gray and Dark. Most were in the first category, thankfully, with a handful in the second and about five books worth in the latter.

It had taken all of the first year to translate, categorize and organize the books into Basic and save the information onto datacards. Despite how advanced the wider galaxy was compared to Harry's people, translations and storing information from books to datacards could only be done by hand. English, the language spoken by the continent where she found Harry, wasn't stored in any databank and so she had to laboriously translate it all by hand into Basic. Datapads also had no scanners to scan the books and save the images onto the datapads and the only scanners that could were high-tech ones in some Core and Mid-Rim worlds. The problem with those was that the scanner would save a copy of everything scanned in its internal memory bank and she did _not_ want anyone finding this information and risk someone falling to the dark side using it.

Not only would a darksider inevitably cause chaos and suffering, but the spells of Harry's people would make them very dangerous.

In terms of power, while most of Harry's people didn't have the sheer raw power that most Jedi did, they more than made for it in their versatility and diversity. How could a Jedi fight a Transfiguration master like Dumbledore when the latter could literally turn their environment into their weapon? How could they fight a people that could teleport around at will and could accurately read your mind even in mid-combat to predict your next move?

Only an experienced and powerful Jedi Master could defeat a powerful and trained magic-user on Dumbledore's level. The sheer amount of options available for magic-users could even catch Jedi Master unaware. Of course, this only applied if the Jedi in question had never faced a magic-user before. If they had, it would be infinitely easier since most magic-users were useless without their wands. A simple telekinetic disarmament would render them more or less defenseless.

Once Harry combined his people's abilities with the Jedi training she would give him, he would become a formidable opponent.

As she thought this, she looked up when she heard said boy approach. Harry, now seven years old, hadn't changed much in the past two years, growing only a few inches taller. His eyes were still the same vivid emerald green and his hair was still as messy as ever despite her best attempts to tame it. Behind him, a familiar iriaz followed behind its master, its familiarity with her showing in how it gave her no more than a cursory glance before sitting near her.

Iriaz were docile creatures native to the planet with green skin and orange spots on their hides. They also had large horns that went backwards horizontally over their back and used them to ram into predators to escape. While docile, they would attack if provoked and it was rare for them to be so... _tame_ around a Human. Harry had befriended this one around six months ago and had basically raised it due to it having been orphaned. Harry had felt connected to the young iriaz and raised him as his own, causing them to have a powerful connection between them as it grew to adulthood.

Fay smiled as she saw Harry stop in front of her and look at her sheepishly. "You're almost late," admonished Fay lightly. "Did you get caught up listening to the spacers' stories again?"

The blush on his face showed that he had indeed gotten caught up listening to the stories of the spacers at the nearby city of Khoonda. "Sorry, Master," muttered Harry in apology. "It's just that the stories are so interesting. Are there really angels in the moons of Iego?"

Fay blinked before giggling at his words. "They're called Diathim, actually, and yes, they live on the moons of Iego. I understand why most would consider them angels, I guess. With their wings, natural beauty and the light they give out, they certainly look like the stereotypical angel. Their kind and gentle disposition only reinforces it. In fact, it could be that the legends about angels originally came from Diathim visiting other planets. I may take you to see them one day if you want."

At that, Harry's smile widened immensely and he started bouncing on his toes. "Really, Master?"

Fay smiled at Harry's childishness and nodded. "If you're good, yes. Where did you hear about the Diathim anyway?"

Harry blushed and looked down in embarrassment. "From the owner of the local bar when he was talking to one of the new arrivals. He was... talking about you and comparing you to the angels of the moons of Iego."

Fay chuckled at her Padawan's obvious embarrassment at having other people talking about her beauty. She was long used to it, however, and didn't let it get to her. "I'm touched that I'm compared to one of the most beautiful beings in the galaxy. I'll be sure to thanks him for the compliment later but for now, it's time for your training."

At that, Harry happily sat down cross-legged in front of Fay, eager for the Force lesson to start. For the first year together, Fay had not started his Jedi training but rather focused on teaching Basic and basic galactic history with an emphasis on Dantooine's history. As they traveled, she would give him a more in-depth explanation of each planet they visited and already had a few destinations in mind. After he had a basic grounding in galactic history and knew Basic fluently, she had taken them here to Dantooine to begin his Jedi training. She sensed that Dantooine's calm and sedate atmosphere was perfect for slowly introducing him to the Force.

Fay smiled as she saw Harry's pet iriaz walk over and lay its head on Harry's lap where Harry started petting it. "Now, in our last lesson we went over the history of the Jedi Order and how it was founded as well as how it changed into its current incarnation. Now, we shall talk about the Force itself."

Fay cleared her throat and started speaking. "Now, as I've previously said the Force is an energy field created by and connecting every living thing to each other. Jedi and other Force-sensitives use this energy field for various seemingly impossible feats ranging from telekinetically lifting heavy weights to," here Fay smiled down at the dozing iriaz, "befriending other non-sentient beings. It also gives its wielder the ability to learn things such as languages faster. The theory of why this is is complicated and has to do with the fact that the knowledge of a language is in many beings subconscious, it sort of overflows into the Force-sensitive's mind more easily. For now, all you have to know is that the Force is what gives all Force-sensitives their power."

At Harry's nod, Fay continued. "The Jedi are but one faction which wields the Force, though it is amongst the oldest and most well-known. There are many other Force-wielding traditions out there who call the Force by a different name. Whether the Force is simply an energy field or a sentient, thinking being is open for debate and even after thirty thousand years we are still no closer to figuring it out. However, we have discovered several things about the Force."

"While the Force lived inside every living thing, it could only be wielded and harnesses by those with a sufficient number of midi-chlorians. Midi-chlorians are intelligent microscopic life-forms that serve as organelles within all living cells, existing in a symbiotic relationship with the beings they inhabit and comprising a collective consciousness among themselves. While a large amount of midi-chlorians does not equal Force ability, it is mostly accepted that those with a larger amount have more _potential_ than those with fewer."

Harry frowned as he thought about it. "So... I have little creatures living inside me?"

Fay almost burst out laughing at the horrified look on Harry's face and was quick to reassure him. "Yes and no. While they're inside you, they're not going to do anything bad to you no matter what happens. They're _symbiotic_ which means they keep you alive and you keep them alive. _Every _living being has them. In fact, without them there would be no life in the galaxy at all."

Harry seemed to calm down at her explanation and nodded, causing her to continue her explanation.

"The Force is more or less divided between the light side and the dark side. The light side is what the Jedi wield and it follows the ideals of good, benevolence, and healing. Followers of the light side such as the Jedi strive to live in harmony with the world around them, acting out of wisdom and logic rather than anger and hasty judgment. The dark side, by contrast, is aligned with fear, hatred, aggression, and malice toward all living things. The dark side is _addictive_ and while not impossible, it is _extremely_ hard to escape the dark side's grip once you start down its path. We Jedi purge ourselves of our negative emotions in order to avoid falling to the dark side. The dark side is inherently corrupting and if you follow it for too long you'll become a twisted version of yourself that only knows anger, hatred, envy and jealousy."

Fay paused as she saw Harry frown in thought. "You have questions." She didn't ask a question but rather stated it as fact.

"Yeah..." started Harry slowly. "Does that mean I can't get angry _ever_ or else I'll turn to the dark side?"

Fay smiled slightly at his naivety, finding it refreshing. "It's impossible to _never _get angry. However, as I train you, I'll teach you how to think calmly and never act in anger. No matter how good it may feel, even so-called righteous anger can lead you down a dark path."

Harry nodded with a small smile as Fay continued the lesson.

"Now," said Fay lightly. "The Force has many, _many_, interpretations and so has many different views on it. For the Jedi, we believe in the Living Force or the Unifying Force."

"The idea of a Living Force reflects the aspect of the Force which connects all living beings. The tangible Force; the present here and now which flowed about to allow a Forceful being to sense life and death. Scholars of the Living Force who espoused a philosophy of 'living _in_ the moment,' relied heavily on their instincts and concentrated more on sensitivity to living things, rather than fulfilling destiny or looking to the future. They believed that the future's instabilities cause uncertainty, and that the present held the answers to near-future events."

"By contrast, the Unifying Force was a deeper aspect of the Force which requires a significantly greater amount of understanding than the aspect of the Living Force. While the Living Force was easily seen throughout the tangible reality of everyday life, the concept of the Unifying Force focused on the aspect of the Force which constituted it as a single cosmic power. Followers of this belief focused on the flow of time as a whole and ignored the primary uses of the Living Force."

Seeing Harry's confusion, Fay simplified it. "Those who follow the Living Force focus on the present while the Unifying Force practitioners focus on the future."

Harry's confusion instantly cleared up and he looked at her curiously. "Which do you follow, Master?"

Fay smiled at the innocent question. "I'm primarily a Living Force believer. I never put much stock in visions or prophecies though I do pay heed to them when they cross my path. Other than that, I live in the moment and let the Force guide me. After all, it led me to you."

Harry blushed and smiled happily at her words, causing her to chuckle. "So when are you going to start training me in using the Force, Master? I already know Galactic Basic Standard as well as my own English. I also know almost everything you said a kid my age should know so are you going to start my Jedi training now?"

Fay smiled indulgently at her Padawan, gently swatting his nose to get him to calm down. "Calm down, Harry. As for Jedi training, I started it already, if in a way that is a bit unorthodox."

Harry looked confused at her words, however. "Really? When?"

"Do you remember when you first befriended that young iriaz?" asked Fay calmly.

Harry blinked as he thought back to the events that led to him gaining his first friend on the planet.

* * *

_Flashback begin (six months ago)_

_Harry sat down across from Master Fay with a groan, his head full of everything he'd learned today and trying to memorize it. Learning a new language was hard and combined with galactic history, it was a nightmare!_

_Fay smiled at her apprentice's discomfort and passed him his dinner. "Eat up. We have a busy day tomorrow. I'm going to test you on what you've learned today and then we're going into the city for supplies. I need more datacards to continue translating your people's 'magic'."_

_Harry groaned in complaint but nodded his assent and looked down at his plate only to frown. "Vegetables again?"_

_Fay simply looked down at Harry's plate with a bemused smile. "I don't see a problem with the food. It doesn't taste bad or anything, does it?"_

_Harry grumbled slightly before timidly asking in nearly fluent Basic. "You may be a vegetarian, Master but I'm not. Plus, I'm a growing boy and need some of the stuff meat has to grow up right."_

_Fay looked at him with an enigmatic smile. "Don't worry. I always make sure you have the right amount of nutrients for growth even taking into account your... less than ideal upbringing. You won't become short or anything due to lack of necessary nutrients."_

_Harry sighed and admitted the real reason he wanted meat. "Fine, the truth is that... I like the taste. The Dursleys rarely let me have meat so I learned to savor it when I could. Going so long without it reminds me of my times with them."_

"_Ah," said Fay in faux understanding as she lightly spoke. "You mean you desire the taste of meat despite it not being necessary?"_

_At Harry's hesitant nod, Fay scrutinized him before coming to a decision. "Tell you what. The only animal useful for meat on this planet are the the iriaz. They're easy to identify and I'm sure you've seen them: green skin, orange spots and horns? Bring me one of those, alive, and I'll cook it for dinner. It should be easy. They're very docile and you can compare them to your world's sheep."_

_At that Harry brightened and nodded happily. He ate his dinner with gusto, imagining finally tasting meat again tomorrow night._

_(One month later)_

_It turned out to be much harder than it sounded. While not aggressive, the iriaz were very skittish around strangers and were quick to flee if he got too close. This only made Harry more determined though and he slowly learned the best ways to go about it. He had forgotten the original reason behind it and concentrated only on completing his objective of bringing one to Master Fay. He hadn't even thought about asking someone in the city to help him tranquilize one and then drag it to the ship._

_Over the course of two weeks, he learned that any aggressive moves would cause them to run so he had to slowly show them he meant no harm. He saw some owners of iriaz herds walk amongst them without them even flinching so he knew it was possible. So after asking some farmers, he decided the best way to go about it was through food._

_For the last two weeks he had come every day and brought food for the iriaz. At first, they had ignored him and had only eaten his food after he'd left. However, slowly they got used to him until they realized he wasn't a threat and started to actually move towards him whenever he appeared with food._

_One family of iriaz in particular had been especially friendly with Harry. They consisted of a male and female adult iriaz and a baby one no more than a month old at the most. They were the most friendly with him and Harry could pet them and walk next to them without them even flinching anymore._

_However, today was the day Harry would complete his objective._

_He had it all planned out. The young iriaz was especially trusting of him and the other day he even followed Harry after he left despite not having food on him. His parents had recently been killed by some hunters so he was an orphan like Harry and so the rest of the herd wouldn't notice the young iriaz's absence. Harry would lead him back to camp using food and complete his objective._

_Harry entered the clearing where the iriaz herd was located and smiled as they turned to him and started walking toward him. Harry quickly dropped the bag full of iriaz food on the floor and open-ended it on the floor where the herd was quick to eat._

_Stepping back, Harry caught sight of his target near the back of the herd, unable to get closer to eat himself. Usually his parents would grab a bit and bring it to him but with his parents dead, he had no one to take care of him. The rest of the herd followed a 'the weak get left behind' mentality like most herds do so he would probably starve if this continued._

_Harry instantly felt a stab of pity and empathy, remembering lonely nights stuck in his cupboard after being sent there without dinner. He remembered having to stifle his stomach's groans of hunger or risk a beating from waking his Uncle and knew he would have likely been left to starve to death if his relatives hadn't feared a reaction from the magicals._

_Harry sent out calming and friendly waves at the young iriaz subconsciously, not knowing what he was doing. The young iriaz quickly turned to him and bleated happily at seeing a familiar face before walking over to him._

_Harry quickly started his plan as he left a trail of iriaz food for the young one to follow out of sight of the rest of the herd. As he thought, they didn't even realize they were gone even after the herd stopped eating, just going back to their business._

_Back with Harry, he had slowly led the young iriaz back to camp, the young creature having had his full and simply following sedately beside Harry. The iriaz's trust in Harry was so absolute that it didn't even question why it was being led away from the herd, just following Harry happily._

_Eventually, they reached the camp next to the ship where Fay calmly meditated while sitting cross-legged on her usual rock._

_Her eyes opened at their approach and she looked down at the proud Harry with a smile. "I see you've succeeded, my Padawan."_

_Harry puffed out his chest proudly before answering. "I sure did, Master."_

"_Good," said Fay simply before taking out a small knife. "Now bring him here so I can kill him quickly and prepare him for dinner tonight."_

_At that, Harry blanched, having completely forgotten the original reason for having to bring an iriaz to camp. He had been so caught up in completing his objective that he'd forgotten what fate awaited the young iriaz when he arrived. He had basically brought his new friend to the executioner's block!_

_Harry laid a hand on the young iriaz who seemed unaware of what they were speaking about and simply idly munched on some leftover iriaz food scattered around the floor. "Um... dinner? I'm not sure about this..."_

_Fay walked over with the knife still in her hand and cocked an eyebrow. "Weren't you complaining about not having meat in your food the other day? Something about missing the taste? Well, now you've brought meat and I need to cook it if you plan to have dinner tonight. So give him here."_

_Harry hesitantly moved aside and watched as the young iriaz, due to not ever having encountered a hostile human in its short life, walked over to Fay innocently, unaware of what she was planning._

_Harry watched with his heart in his throat as Fay started to pet the iriaz with her left hand while her right lifted with the knife in hand. Harry's mind raced as he thought about whether this was worth it and as the knife dropped, Harry couldn't take it anymore._

"_Stop!" yelled Harry, causing Fay to freeze as knife was a foot away from the iriaz's body. "I changed my mind! I don't need meat! I'm happy with eating just veggies!"_

_Fay's face was one of bemusement. "So you're saying that you'd give up your desire for meat just to spar this young iriaz's life? Why when he'll probably be killed by local hunters and served into stew eventually anyway?"_

_Harry grimaced but remained firm. "Because... it doesn't matter if h might become stew or not. I just know that _I_ won't be the one to cause him to die just because I want the taste of meat. My desires... aren't worth his life."_

_Fay's gaze was inscrutable. "Are you sure?"_

"_Yes," said Harry firmly._

_At that, Fay smiled proudly and tossed aside the knife with a gesture. "That was the correct choice, my Padawan. You've made me very proud."_

_Harry blinked at her words and his jaw dropped as they penetrated his skull. "Master? Was this all a test?"_

_Fay smirked and nodded as she sat back down on her rock. "Indeed, young Harry. One you've passed remarkably. Now sit down beside me so I can explain my reasoning."_

_Harry grumbled as scrambled up the rock, carrying his young iriaz friend with him. Fay chuckled when he almost fell a few times due to the iriaz's weight but he eventually made it to the top and sat beside her._

"_Now," started Fay with a smile that slowly faded. "I'm sure you're wondering why I made you go through all this trouble of bringing an iriaz here when I never planned to go through with killing it?" At Harry's curious nod, she continued. "You see, I wished to teach you an important lesson all Jedi must know and I personally wished all potential Jedi knew before they started training. And that lesson is that sometimes we have to give up our own personal desires for the good of others."_

_Harry still looked confused as he questioned her. "I don't think I understand, Master."_

_Fay smiled slightly at his confusion. "Let me explain. A few weeks ago you complained about not having any meat in your food. I told you that it had all of the nutrients you needed yet you insisted on wanting meat due to the taste. _That_, my young Padawan, was because you _desired_ meat. It wasn't strictly necessary yet you wanted it anyway. A desire is something that is not necessary for our survival yet we want anyway because it fulfills some unnecessary need within us. In your case, it reminded you of something you were previously denied and you wished it in order to reaffirm the fact that you could have anything you want now that you've left your previous family."_

_Harry frowned as he thought about her words, annoyed by the fact that he couldn't deny them. "What does that have to do with the test?"_

"_I was getting to that," reproached Fay calmly. "In order to teach you how bad giving into your desires could be I gave you the test of befriending an iriaz in order to show you something. Before you befriended the iriaz, you showed no remorse to the idea of bringing one here to be killed just to fulfill your desire for meat. Yet after you did, you couldn't bring yourself to even think of the idea of eating its meat. What changed?"_

_Harry thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know. I guess... they sort of became friends."_

"_Exactly," said Fay happily. "The lesson in this is two-fold. First, as Jedi and as people we should always respect the life of other beings, sentient or not. After all, a stranger is just a friend you haven't made yet and even the ones we hate we may someday come to understand much like the Dursleys."_

_Harry scowled as he thought about his relatives. Understand them? Never._

_Fay sensed his emotions but ignored them for now. He was still young after all and she couldn't expect him to mature all at once. "Second, to show you the danger of giving into your desires thoughtlessly. A month ago you would have given me that young iriaz to be chopped into food without thought beyond fulfilling your desires. But now that you have befriended it, can you imagine killing him just to taste meat? Or any iriaz for that matter?"_

_Harry frowned as he thought about it and the thought actually gave him shudder and made him want to hurl. Eating meat was one thing but eating a friend..._

"_So you're saying I have to be vegetarian?" asked Harry in confusion._

_Fay broke out in laughter at his words, causing said boy to blush in embarrassment, thinking he'd said something stupid. "Oh, ohhh," said Fay as she slowly stopped laughing. "I haven't laughed that hard in centuries, I think. No, Harry. You don't have to be vegetarian. Let me explain this in a different way."_

_Fay thought about it for a moment before slowly speaking. "This young iriaz's parents... they were killed by hunters, weren't they?"_

_Harry blinked in shock at her knowing that. "Yeah... how did you know that?"_

"_I'm a Jedi Master and I know such things," said Fay glibly. "That and in this season kath hounds move to other areas so the only things that could have killed them were hunters. I doubt that if they were alive they would have left their child wander off."_

_Harry blushed at her pointing out that logical explanation, causing her to chuckle._

"_Returning to his parents," said Fay lightly. "They were killed by hunters. Said hunters probably killed them in order to fulfill their desire for meat much like you and gave no thought to the consequences. Yet by killing its parents, they inadvertently orphaned your little friend and knowing how iriaz herds work he'll no doubt die of starvation or be killed by a predator due to being unprotected. Do you see how actions have far-reaching consequences? A simple desire for meat ended not two, but three lives, one long before its time. To the hunters, the young iriaz's parents were just prey and food but to you and to the young iriaz, they were much more important."_

_Harry groaned as he rubbed his forehead as he felt a headache form. "This is so complicated."_

_Fay giggled. "Indeed it is and that leads me to the most important part of this lesson." Harry quickly paid attention when he saw the serious look in Fay's eyes. "As Jedi, there will be many times when we'll be called to give up the things we desire for the greater good of others or the Order. Our life is one of sacrifice and profound commitment and it is a hard life. You will rarely be thanked for your good actions and your only consolation is that you may have made the galaxy a better place due to your actions. So I ask you... are you sure you want to continue to be a Jedi? If not, I can take you to anywhere you wish and leave you with enough money to become anything you want. The choice is yours."_

_Harry thought about it for a moment before nodding firmly. "I'm not sure exactly what you mean yet but I know I want to be a Jedi. I want to help people... like you helped me. If I have give up some desires like tasting meat or something then so be it."_

_Fay smiled sadly. "There will be bigger sacrifices as you grow older I'm afraid but for now... your answer suffices." She looked at the young iriaz sleeping in Harry's lap. "What are you going to do with your friend there?"_

_Harry looked down at him for a moment before looking up at Fay. "Can I keep him? He's an orphan like me... and well, I don't want him to die like you said he probably would. His herd hasn't even noticed he's gone."_

_Fay looked at Harry as if X-raying him before nodding. "Very well. You may keep him. But you are responsible for him and that means cleaning up after him and training him to do his business outside. If I see a single dropping inside the ship..."_

"_I know, I know, Master," assured Harry with a wide smile. "I promise he won't poop inside."_

_Fay smirked. "He better not. Or else _you're_ cleaning it up... _by hand_."_

_Fay broke down laughing at the look of horror on Harry's face at that._

_Flashback end_

* * *

Harry shook his head as he returned to the present. "Yes, Master. Was that Force training as well?"

Fay smirked at his question. "You don't think it was _normal_ for someone to befriend a herd of iriaz within a month, did you? Whether you knew it or not, you used the Force to befriend them bit by bit until they no longer saw you as a threat. A very basic form of Animal Friendship but the fact you did it subconsciously shows you have a strong connection to the Living Force."

Harry scrunched up his face in thought. "Does that mean I have to be a Living Force believer?"

Fay smiled at his words. "No, Harry. Just because you're abilities lean toward one view more than the other does not mean you have to follow its beliefs. In fact, you don't have to believe in either if you want. I know of one young Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn, who I knew from... a while back, that while was a strong believer in the Living Force, was open to other viewpoints. He was known to have visited other Force sects and learning from them, adding their wisdom to his own."

Harry's eyes brightened at the thought of visiting other planets. "Will we be able to do that too, Master?"

Fay scrutinized Harry for a moment as well as communing with the Force for guidance before nodding slowly. "Yes... I do believe so. Visiting and learning from other Force sects might be good for you, especially since you're going to be learning from your people's own 'magic' as well. But that will be much later. For now, you still need to learn the basics."

Harry pouted but nodded in understanding. "Okay, Master. So when will we start?"

Fay smiled at Harry's enthusiasm. Ah, the innocence of a child! She was glad his _relatives_ hadn't completely stamped it out of him. While much more mature than other children his age, to the point she sometimes forgot he was only seven, she was glad to see he was still able to be childish when necessary.

"We'll start tomorrow," said Fay firmly. "For now, it's time to rest, it's been a long day for both of us."

Harry nodded and started to follow Master Fay into the ship when he caught sight of something in the distance. "By the way, Master Fay?" When she turned to him in question, he continued. "I asked the men at the bar and they told me that that building is a Jedi Enclave. Why don't we stay there if its meant for us Jedi?"

Fay looked at the Enclave in the distance, barely visible in the horizon. "That enclave has been abandoned for millennia, Harry. No Jedi has stepped foot there since the Jedi Civil War over three thousand years ago. While the people here rebuilt it after it was destroyed, the Jedi haven't used it for so long it's probably close to falling down in disrepair by now."

Harry's eyes widened in awe as he looked at the far away enclave with new eyes. "Really? It must have all manner of treasure and stuff then, right?"

Fay gave Harry a hard look at his words. "I know what you're thinking and I'm forbidding you from going there, Harry. Anything of value was no doubt taken a long time ago and the underlevels are infested with laigreks according to locals. The land around it is probably taken by wild animals too so it's too dangerous for you to go alone. If you want, I might take you with me when you're older and able to defend yourself but not now. Understand?"

Harry frowned but looked down and nodded. "Yes, Master."

Fay looked at Harry's down-turned face with a frown but eventually let it go. "Very well. Now go to sleep because we'll be waking up early tomorrow to start your training."

Harry nodded and followed after his master, his pet iriaz following behind him having done his business outside like he was trained to. As he walked up the ramp, Harry looked at the enclave in the distance with a determined look in his face.

_'Master Fay's wrong, I can take care of myself,'_ thought Harry stubbornly. _'An d I'll prove it by exploring those ruins and bringing something back as proof.'_

With that thought in mind, Harry walked into the ship with his pet iriaz behind him.

* * *

**Jedi Enclave, Dantooine**

**Three days later**

Harry panted as he finally reached the Enclave with his pet iriaz beside him. It had taken three days but Harry had finally found a chance to come visit the ruins today when Master Fay told him to take the day off while she went into the city to resupply. As soon as she was gone, Harry had left toward the Jedi Enclave ruins with his trusty pet iriaz beside him, determined to prove he didn't need protecting.

A prominent feature on Dantooine, the Jedi Enclave's outward facade was made from local stone and masonry and was especially distinctive due to the large fin-like stone structures that encircled the complex's main buildings. Made up of three large above ground buildings and containing a ground floor and subterranean level, all the areas of the Enclave were easily accessible from its main, central courtyard building which acted like a hub for navigating the compound.

The Enclave's northeast face looked over the Khoonda plains where Harry and Fay's ship was locate. Harry guessed by the way the enclave was made that most traffic came to and from the Khoonda Plain due to the small courtyard that connected the north and east wings of the building, stretching like spokes from the central building. From the courtyard where Harry was standing, he could see what he knew from ghost stories were the ancient haunted ruins. There were many ghost stories about the place, saying the spirits of dead Jedi and Sith still haunted the place. Harry didn't know about that but he did know for sure that kath hounds near these ruins were more dangerous, and even experienced explorers and hunters avoided the area.

To the south of the central building was what used to be the Enclave's landing platform, a long, oval-shaped building with high walls and no ceiling. However, over time it seemed to have worn away as one wall had caved in and the others weren't looking any better. No wonder, Master Fay didn't land there.

All in all, the place looked every bit the ruins it was called and obviously hadn't been looked after in years. The most people did was send hunters to clear out the upper levels of creatures and even that was mostly done out of training for raw recruits. Harry was sure there would be any creatures inside it now since the underlevels were still locked, keeping the laigreks trapped there and it had recently been cleaned out a month ago. With it being the cold season, all the predators had left for greener pastures until the warm seasons started in three months.

Harry turned to his pet iriaz and told him in a stern voice. "Stay here, Buster. Guard the exit until I get back, okay?"

The iriaz seemed to understand because he bumped into Harry slightly before walking back slightly and laying down on the floor. Harry could only roll his eyes at his lazy pet's actions before he shook his head and walked into the ruins. He had to jump over some fallen pillars but he eventually managed to enter through the eastern entryway of the ruins and into the enclave proper.

Back outside, Buster the iriaz continued to snooze, unaware of the hungry eyes looking at him from the top of a nearby hill.

* * *

**Harry and Fay's encampment, Khoonda Plains, Dantooine**

**Twenty minutes later**

Fay sighed as she carried the latest batch of supplies into the ship. She hated to tap into the Temple's funds in order to buy things but had had to in this case. Harry's training required some specialized equipment, not to mention more food to feed the growing boy now that he was actually exercising and working hard.

Harry had advanced quickly in the last three days. Outside of his remarkable connection to the Living Force which gave him an advantage in learning abilities connected to it such as Animal Friendship, Alter Environment and other such things, she had found he had an affinity for telekinesis. In three days alone, he had managed to go from lifting small rocks to lifting medium-sized rocks as big as her head. It was quite an achievement, especially since he hadn't even attempted any telekinetic feats before she started to train him in them.

This told her it was time to move on. They had come to Dantooine since it was a planet far away from the Core to not attract much attention yet close enough that a Jedi and her apprentice staying for a while wouldn't raise any eyebrows while still giving her access to the necessary technology. She had thought about training him in some far off planet far from civilization but decided against it for several reasons. For one, Harry had basically been isolated his whole life and continuing it would only make things worse. Dantooine had a small settlement with kids his own age to play with and while he spent more time with his pet iriaz than with the other kids, he had still befriended a few once he learned Basic.

Secondly, such a planet wouldn't have the necessary technology such as datapads and chips for her to properly translate Harry's people's 'magic'. If she special-ordered it, it would attract attention and that was the last thing she wanted.

But now that his basic education was done and his Force training was beginning in earnest, it was time to move on.

She contemplated which planet would be best to continue his training to further his connection with the Living Force. Planets like Felucia would be perfect for that due to its large amount of wildlife and flora that has been basically untouched by technology. Ithor would be better but no one was allowed to land on its surface and while she had good relations with the Ithorians, she didn't want to push her luck.

After that, training him in boosting his body with the Force and using the Force in more passive ways such as tracking and the like would be good. She briefly thought about going to the Draethos before dismissing it. The Draethos were far too aggressive in their usage of the Force for her to be comfortable with them training her apprentice. She wanted to teach him how to survive with the Force alone, not how to become a hunter and killer.

"Perhaps the Zeison Sha?" muttered Fay to herself before shrugging. That was thoughts for a later time. For now, she had to speak with her Padawan about it. They'd have to leave behind his pet iriaz though and that promised to be a hard conversation no doubt. He was very attached to the iriaz but they couldn't take it with them. It would best for them to leave him with a friendly farmer before leaving.

"Harry?" called Fay as she walked around the ship, looking for her apprentice. "Harry, where are you?"

Fay frowned when she didn't receive an answer. Reaching out with the Force, she realize that her apprentice wasn't on the ship. Her frown deepened into worry as she thought about where he could be. If he had come to the city, she would have sensed him or at least seen him around the city while she was doing her purchases. The city wasn't _that_ big. It was more a town really but barely made the population requirements to be called a city.

Fay had a bad feeling as she thought about her conversation with Harry a few days ago. He wouldn't have gone when she expressively forbid him, would he? She had never forbid him something before so why would he disobey her now?

Fay got her answer to Harry's location when she sensed a surge of anger and distress coming from him in the direction of the enclave ruins. Cursing to herself and promising to punish the boy till he promised never to do anything so reckless again, Fay quickly gathered the camp together and threw it into the ship before closing the ramp and flying in the direction of the Jedi enclave ruins.

* * *

**Jedi Enclave ruins central courtyard, Dantooine**

**A few minutes earlier**

Harry sighed in frustration as he kicked a nearby overgrown bush. He had been all over the ruins yet he hadn't found anything worth taking back with him. It really looked like the place had been stripped bare by hunters and mercenaries looking to make a quick buck selling Jedi artifacts. Harry had noticed the blast doors leading west but guessed it was the doors to the sublevels and knew better than to open those. Those levels would no doubt have _something_ but he knew he wouldn't be able to face whatever lived down there.

Huffing in frustration, Harry threw himself down at the base of the withered tree in the center of the central courtyard only to yelp in pain when he felt his behind hit a slightly sharp rock of some kind.

After checking that he hadn't hurt himself beyond a slight bruise, Harry felt around the brush for what he sat upon. Eventually, his hand closed around what he guessed had hurt him. Pulling it out, Harry blinked as he looked at the culprit.

It was a rock. A reddish-orange rock of some kind. Normally, he would have thrown it away after seeing it was nothing special but he hesitated when he felt something different about it. It took a minute for him to realize what it was.

The rock was throwing off waves in the Force! Obviously, it was more than some regular rock. Harry cleaned it up a bit and realized it wasn't a rock but a really dirty crystal of some kind. Maybe even a crystal that used to be inside a lightsaber!

Well, okay maybe not a lightsaber since it was too big for that. But still, it had to be something special! If he showed this to his master as proof that he was here and was fine then he'd prove he could look after himself! He didn't even open the door to the sublevels or anything, proving he knew his limits.

Happy to have found his intended target, Harry placed the rock in the pouch he had brought along for just such an occasion. Cleaning himself off and seeing he had nothing worse than a few scratches from thorns and one particularly large gash on his cheek from when he cut himself on a large thorn, Harry made his way out of the enclave.

As he walked out of the eastern exit, Harry caught sight of Buster getting up from where he had been laying down and starting to trot in his direction. Harry muttered under his breath about lazy pets and started to walk toward him.

What happened next would stay in his mind for years to come.

Harry jumped on top of a fallen pillar and froze in terror when he saw a kath hound nearby. Kath hounds were about the size of a large dog, fur-covered, and had two toes on each of their four cloven hooves. Kath hounds were the normal predators on Dantooine, second only to the graul which wa sbasically the rancor of Dantooine.

However, kath hounds rarely attacked humans and their normal prey were iriaz. It was for this reason that when the iriaz herds moved on three months ago so had the kath hounds. So what was one doing here still and attacking him, a human? That was when Harry realized that the kath hound wasn't looking at _him_.

He was looking at Buster.

Harry didn't have time to shout a warning to his pet before the kath hound pounced. Before Harry's horrified eyes, the kath hound pounced onto Buster's side, savagely biting into his neck, getting a pained bleet from Buster before the kath hound broke his neck, killing him instantly.

The feeling of Harry's oldest and best friend dying through the Force hit him like a ton of bricks and rage filled him. With an enraged yell, Harry Force-pushed the kath hound off his friend's corpse and it flew off with a yelp a few feet away. The kath hound got up but seemed to reconsider attacking Harry and ran away.

With tears in his eyes, Harry ran toward his fallen friend, vainly trying to staunch the bleeding in his pet's neck despite already knowing he was dead. His mind simply refused to accept the fact that his pet and friend was dead, vainly trying to use the Force to heal him. The only result Harry got was more blood in his hands as the corpse heart got energy to continue pumping more blood.

Suddenly, Harry felt rage fill him at the thought of the kath hound that killed his friend. Why was here?! Kath hounds were supposed to have left with the others during the change of season! Why did he have to be here and take his best friend away!?

Anger filling him, Harry got up before looking toward where the kath hound ran. Somehow, Harry knew he could track him if he wanted and get revenge for his fallen friend. Harry considered the fact he didn't have a weapon but dismissed it. He had the Force and this time he would squeeze the life out of the kath hound himself instead of just Force pushing him away. He would avenge his fallen friend.

Getting up, Harry made no attempt to clean his hands of blood and instantly began to run toward where he felt his enemy was. He didn't know how he knew where his prey was, just that he did.

Filled with anger, he didn't notice as he made his way through the hills toward his target that a very familiar ship made its way toward the ruins before landing. He didn't notice as he felt his master's presence leave said ship and make its way toward Buster's fallen form. He was too wrapped up in getting revenge.

As night fell, Harry finally reached his target's abode, watching as the kath hound in question came out of the cave and growled at him, warning him back. In normal circumstances, Harry would have listened to the warning or at least wondered why it was warning him instead of attacking. But he was still too angry and so started to reach out with the Force to crush the kath hound's body. The kath hound whined as Harry's Force grip hit it, slowly squeezing the life out of him. Harry didn't stop and continued as the kath hound continued to whine. However, he stopped and dropped the kath hound when he saw something that shocked him.

Coming from the cave behind the adult kath hound, three baby kath hounds stumbled out, noticeably thin in a way that showed they hadn't eaten in a while and whining in their mother's direction. Said mother seemed to get agitated at their presence and stood up shakily before getting between Harry and the babies as if protecting them from him.

The sight caused all of Harry's anger to leave him in a rush as he realized what he was about to do. If he killed the mother, he would be orphaning those three baby kath hounds and leaving them alone and undefended. The other kath hound packs had all moved on by now so without their mother they would probably die from starvation.

They would be orphans like he was.

Like Buster was.

The idea that he would be responsible for orphaning yet another set of children made him want to hurl. His strong Force empathy only made it worse as the feelings he was getting from the kath hound that he had been ignoring hit him all at once.

The mother's hunger due to lack of food that was overshadowed for her fear for her pups. The pups hunger from not eating in almost too long and their sorrow from what Harry felt was a sibling having died from starvation a day or two ago.

Not one ounce of malice or evil was in either of the creatures' thoughts. They had simply been doing what they needed to survive.

Harry lurched back and he stumbled backwards and away from the sight before him. Walking as if drunk, Harry made his way out of the ravine where the cave was located and up and over a hill before falling on his butt.

Everything that had just happened in the past hour hit him at once. Him almost killing an innocent creature that had only been following its instincts to feed its family. Him almost inadvertently doing something that would have led to the death of three baby kath hounds before their time. But most of all, the fact that his arrogance and need to prove himself had led him to going to the ruins despite his Master distinctly telling him not to which ended up in getting his friend killed.

Harry sobbed. He cried and sobbed as everything hit him at once and he didn't know any other way to react to it. He cried out his confusion as to what he was supposed to do now that his best friend was dead. He cried at the fact that he _was_ dead. He cried at the fact that those starving kath hound babies reminded him so much of himself when he lived with the Dursleys; hungry and desperately clinging to the one source of comfort they had.

As he cried he felt a familiar presence make its way toward him before sitting beside him. Harry didn't react as his Master hugged him to her, whispering soothing words in his ears as he cried.

Eventually, his tears stopped coming and he looked up at his Master who was looking at him in pity. "Buster?" It was a vain hope but he hoped his master had done some miracle and saved his pet's life from his own idiocy.

Sadly, Fay shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. He was already dead as you know. I could only wrap him up and put him on the ship to be buried later." Fay gestured where the ship was parked nearby, showing she had followed him from the air to his current location. Which was probably for the best since he had no idea where he was, so wrapped up in his anger he had been.

Harry bit his lip as he nodded, his last hope fading. "What do I do now, Master? Buster is dead because of me. If I'd listened to you instead of going to the ruins..."

"Yes," said Fay bluntly. "If you hadn't gone, Buster would still be alive. But on the other hand, you wouldn't have the chance you currently have."

Harry looked up at his master in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Fay sighed as she started to speak. "Those baby kath hounds, yes I saw them. They're no older than maybe two months old. What does that tell you?" At Harry's confusion, she explained. "It means that three months ago, when the other kath hounds went with the herds, she stayed behind because she was pregnant. She could have gone with the others but the trip would have probably caused her to lose her babies. So face between saving herself and losing her children or birthing her children and maybe dying herself trying to save them, she chose the latter."

"However," continued Fay gravely. "The prey around here has become scarce with the iriaz herds gone. The iriaz still here are the ones in farms protected by the farmers and she can't attack on of them without a pack and hope to come out alive. I've heard rumors of a kath hound still around attacking some chickens and the like but that would hardly feed her alone, much less the three baby kath hounds. Without sustenance, all of them will be dead within a month."

Harry mulled it over in his head for a moment before speaking. "So what do you want me to do, Master?"

Fay smiled and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I think you know. Just know that Buster would have wanted it that way as well. He wouldn't have wanted more babies to be made orphans as well."

With that, Fay got up and made her way to the ship, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts. Seemingly coming to a decision, Harry got up and followed after his Master.

* * *

Back in the cave, the mother kath hound licked her hungry babies, trying to calm them. When she had seen that iriaz outside the ruins, she had thought her prayers were answered. It had been nice and fat and could have sustained them for a good while. Maybe even gotten her strength back enough to carry her pups to better pastures for prey.

Yet she hadn't counted on that strange human being there. When he threw her, she had sensed a dangerous aura around him and decided to leave him be. But then he had tracked her back to her home to her babies and somehow managed to hurt her. She had thought she was going to die and leave her babies alone when he'd stopped. She didn't know why but she hadn't looked a gift horse in the mouth and hidden in the cave with her pups, hoping he would leave.

It seemed he had since she hadn't sensed anything come closer and in fact sensed the boy leave. Maybe tomorrow she would have better luck.

The kath hound's attention was brought to the sound of something landing outside. Tense to any danger, the mother slowly stalked out of the cave to see what made the noise.

She was surprised when she saw the corpse of the iriaz she'd killed earlier lying at the mouth of the cave. Her mouth salivated at the delicious smell and after a quick check for danger, she grabbed the corpse and drug it into the cave.

Her babies would eat well tonight and, at least for now, the danger of dying of starvation had passed.

Hovering over the ravine on the ship's ramp, Harry watched as her friend's corpse was drug into the cave with a heavy heart before walking inside and closing the ramp. With a slow walk, Harry walked to the cockpit where Fay waited.

The two stayed silent as Fay plotted a course out of the system on the navigation charts. "Did I do the right thing?" asked Harry silently.

Fay paused and looked at her apprentice sadly. "Buster is dead, Harry. Nothing would change that. At least now his death made it so others wouldn't die as well. So yes, you did the right thing. And I'm proud of you for making the choice yourself."

Harry smiled thinly at his Master's words, his heart still too heavy from what had happened to do much more. "Thanks, Master. So where are we headed?"

Fay smiled mischievously. "To the next step of your training. I hope you like jungles because this planet is one big one. And here we go."

With that, the stars became streaks of light as the ship entered hyperspace.

* * *

**AN: As you can see, Harry's training is progressing well. He obviously had to be given basic galactic education and taught Basic first but his Force training is going well. I thought we needed an excuse for why he gets mature so quickly and while losing a pet may seem like nothing, you have to take into account that Buster was Harry's closest friend, even if he was a pet. Combined with the fact that he basically caused his death, it really hit Harry hard. This was also his first brush with the dark side and his quick to anger problem. Much like the canon Harry, this Harry has a temper problem and his first instinct is to get revenge on the one who caused his loved one's death (like Bellatrix with Sirius and Snape with Dumbledore).**

**As you can see, Harry has a powerful connection to the Living Force which to me means he leans towards powers related to living things instead of the more esoteric powers of the Unifying Force. This will tie in well with Transfiguration and Alter Environment later on.**

**Hope you like how I characterized Fay. To me she always seemed like the wise and calm type who is more lenient than others like her due to her long life and life on the Rim giving her a more flexible outlook. She's willing to train Harry in ways other, more orthodox Jedi frown on.**

**Please Review!**


	3. Felucia I: Training and Tests

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer:**** All publicly recognizable characters, setting, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. All other concepts and ideas from other books or stories belong to their respective authors. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**AN: Sorry for the long time to update. No real excuse except I'm not used to having a schedule and for some reason this chapter took a while to write. It didn't help that I recently downloaded Hulu and spent most of my free time rewatching the last four Doctor Who seasons. Lol. To make things worse, a friend of mine recommended the Game of Thrones books after I watched the newest season and well... yeah, got caught up in them.**

**Also, just to clear things up, this story will not be a harem or at least I'm not planning on it at this moment. The three girls named in the story summary are simply the most probable girls to be paired with Harry. There's actually four probable girls but the fourth's name doesn't show up in options so I left her out. The four girls who could be possibly paired with Harry are: Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, Barriss Offee and Celeste Morne. The last one is the one I'm most leaning toward since she's one of my fav SW universe characters. Also, out of all of them, she's the only one that can, for sure, have a child with Harry. Not saying it's necessary but well, the ability to actually conceive a child together is sort of important. Twi'leks obviously can't (or else they'd be hundred of Half-Human bastards around the galaxy) and neither can Togrutans. I'm not sure about Mirialians because the wiki isn't clear on that and I think I've heard of half-Mirilians before so I'm not certain on Barris. For now the girls named will all have close relationships with him but romance won't be an important theme to the story right now so it won't become important till much later.**

**Either way, I just wanted to clear up that it won't be a harem fic. I MIGHT make it so two girls pair with Harry but it's very doubtful. I'll probably put up a poll much later in the story about it though considering the reviews I've been getting, Aayla would probably win. Lol.**

**Also, the Felucians mentioned here are the ones shown in the Force Unleashed, not the Clone Wars cartoon.**

**Anyway, on with the story.**

* * *

**Felucia, Thaunium Worlds, Outer Rim Territories**

**38 BBY (962 years after Ruusan Reformation)**

The upper canopies of the Felucian mushroom forest were tranquil as a group of Felucian birds rested from a long flight. Like most of the creatures of Felucia, the birds were extremely large, with a bulbous body and pale, translucent skin. The flight was currently resting before continuing their flight further north in search of more prey. The quiet around them calmed the birds and caused them to let down their guard.

All this changed when arrows flew out of the canopy nearby, instantly killing one and injuring a second. The birds squawked and took flight when five figures burst out of the canopy, shooting arrows at the escaping birds, managing to fell a third and finishing off the injured second. One of the figures was smaller than the rest and ran forward before kneeling and taking aim with his bow.

Tracking a bird that had just taken flight, he let loose an arrow, managing to pierce the bird through an eye, killing it instantly. It fell not ten feet from his killer, breaking through the canopy to land on the jungle floor below.

The one to make the kill smiled and looked back at the leader of the hunting group proudly. "I got one, Master!"

The leader stepped forward, showing herself to be none other Fay herself, wearing only a bikini-esque top made of animal skin and a skirt of similar make. "Well done, my apprentice. You've much improved in using that bow and arrow since we've arrived. I'm sure your trainer will be glad to hear you're no longer hitting your own comrades instead of the prey." The last part was said in a teasing tone which caused their hunting comrades to chuckle.

Harry blushed at her words, remembering his many mistakes when he was first learning to wield a bow and arrow. "It's not my fault, Master," complained Harry with a pout. "It's harder than I thought to put the arrow in, much less aim it right. You make it looks so easy."

Harry was similarly garbed as Fay, wearing no shirt and some shorts made out of animal skin as well as some shoes. Other than that, he had nothing on him except a spear attached to his back by a string as well as a small quiver with the arrows for his bow which was in his hand.

Fay chuckled before exchanging words in native Felucian with their jungle Felucian comrades. The three Felucians responded and nodded to her words, before walking toward the fresh corpses of their prey and starting to haul them toward their gelagrub mounts. They would drag them back to camp to be added to the catch of the other hunting parties and cooked for the bonfire that night.

Fay turned to Harry as she walked toward him. "That's because I've had much practice using it before. Is it really so surprising that I know how to, how do you say it, 'rough it' with the natives?"

Harry smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head. "Kinda. It's just... kinda weird to see you so at home living like this. You always seemed so... I dunno, proper and stuff. Couldn't imagine you able to rough it before now."

Fay flicked his ear in admonishment with a smile. "A Jedi has no property except his or her lightsaber and should be able to survive in almost any environment. Clothes, food, shelter, transportation... all this a Jedi should be able to procure on site if necessary. With the Force to guide us, we need nothing else."

Harry nodded at her words, understanding them better now. "Is that why we came here to train? So I can learn how to survive with nothing but the Force?"

"Partially," admitted Fay slowly. "Though there were other reasons. I also wanted to expose you other Force cultures, especially those that fly in the face of your sensibilities. The Felucians certainly do that with their execution of those who fall to the dark side, don't they?"

Harry winced and nodded, remembering the first time he'd witnessed an execution of a shaman that had fallen to the dark side around five months ago. It had affected Harry especially since the shaman had been one of the first that had greeted and accepted them into the tribe when they arrived. Harry hadn't been very friendly with him but he also hadn't been _not_ friendly with him so it watching him be thrown into the Ancient Abyss had been horrifying.

However, his Master had talked to him afterwards and explained to him why the Felucians did this. Ever since they arrived, Harry had felt how close to the edge the planet was to the dark side. The entire planet was like one living connection to the Living Force and due to this the amount of Force-sensitive natives on the planet was especially high. However, this also made the balance on the planet tenuous at best where one powerful darksider could unbalance the entire planet's equilibrium. Since the people were so closely intertwined with the planet, this would affect the natives as well on a physical and psychological level. His Master hadn't gone into detail but needless to say that that was the worst thing that could happen.

It had taken a while, especially considering how the shaman's execution had reopened the wounds of Buster's death but he had learned to accept it even if he didn't agree with it.

"Yeah, I know," muttered Harry with a frown. "I still don't like it... but I guess I can accept it."

"And that is part of the reason I brought you here," said Fay calmly. "As a Jedi you will come across many people and cultures that may fly against your sensibilities. You may consider them barbaric or cruel. However, it is not our place to judge others as long as they don't fall to the dark side or cause pain and suffering to innocents around them. You must learn to keep an objective viewpoint at all times and learn to see both sides of every story."

Harry nodded at her words. "I understand, Master. I'll try."

"Do or do not," admonished Fay lightly. "There is no try. Now come, we've hunted more than enough food for today. It's time for our own training away from the rest."

With that, Fay jumped down to the jungle floor and started to run through the jungle, leaving very little sign of her passage behind her. Harry followed after her, though with less impressive results. He wasn't a rancor charging through the underbrush but neither was he completely quiet in his passage. Small animals and birds ran away from him as he passed and small broken twigs and faint footprints showed his passage behind his Master.

Still, the fact he was able to more or less keep up with her despite being only eight years old simply by using the Force to bolster his physical capabilities was commendable. Using the Force in such a manner was one of the first things he learned when he arrived on the planet. Both his Master and the native Felucians made extensive use of the skill to stalk and hunt their prey as well as fight off some of the larger predators. His master had taught him to regulate the amount of Force energy channeling through his body while the natives taught him how to resist the call of the dark side doing so caused.

In order to hunt with making minimal noise, they had also taught him another ability that he considered awesome.

"_Not bad, my young Padawan,"_ said Fay telepathically as she jumped over a large root and swung on a vine over a small stream. _"You are doing much better in keeping up with me than before. I'm still not going at my max speed but considering your youth, I don't expect you to be able to keep up with that yet."_

"_You said that learning how to do this was important for my future training,"_ responded Harry the same way as he, far less gracefully, followed. _"Why is that?"_

"_The ability to use the Force to boost your own physical capabilities including, strength, speed, and reflexes is a staple for any Force tradition."_ explained Fay patiently. _"It is the most obvious and used ability that any Force-sensitive uses, sometimes even subconsciously. However, very few truly master the ability to its fullest potential, something I consider a failing of the new generation. They're happy with simply being able to do it to an adequate degree."_

Fay slowed down slightly to allow Harry to catch up to run beside her, the connection between them allowing them to run in sync easily without accidentally tripping the other. Harry automatically lengthened his strides while Fay shortened hers so they kept pace with the other.

"_However, the ability to channel the Force through the body is a good first step for other applications,"_ continued Fay without missing a beat. _"Mastering that ability allows one to use it subconsciously, freeing the mind to do other things such as think up strategies and tactics. Furthermore, it helps deepen one's connection to the Force and opens the pathway to other skills."_

"_Like what, Master?"_ asked Harry curiously.

"_Well,"_ mused Fay thoughtfully. _"Force healing would be one. By having a greater understanding of your own body, it becomes easier to use the Force to heal another's and your own. You automatically identify injured areas and use the Force to heal them. It's easier with your own body, obviously, and healing another of more complex injuries takes years of study especially if the other is not of your species."_

Harry mused it over before nodding. _"I see. So this is like the absolute basics?"_

"_Yes,"_ said Fay in confirmation. _"This can be considered energy manipulation in a way though it's using Froce energy to boost the body. This along with basic telekinesis and telepathy is the basis for all other Force powers and most can be traced back to one of these in some way. The more advanced or complex abilities are sometimes a mix of the three branches."_

Harry nodded and nothing more was said as Master and apprentice made their way to their chosen training ground.

The two eventually reached the Ancient Abyss where shamans who fell to the dark side were sacrificed to maintain the stability of the Force in the world. The sarlacc was _massive_, with tentacles reaching almost 100 meters in length, large enough to drag a rancor inside easily. Even sacrificing a shaman to the sarlacc was dangerous since, before they arrived, getting too close ran the risk of the sarlacc attacking the ones doing the sacrificing as well. However, that all changed when he and Master Fay arrived.

Harry watched in wonder as Master Fay made a gesture and one of the tentacles of the sarlacc gently landed beside them. Master and apprentice jumped on top and with another gesture from Fay, the tentacle gently carried them to the other side of the Abyss where a large ledge overlooking the sarlacc was located.

Stepping off the tentacle with a pat of thanks from Fay, Master and apprentice walked to the center of the area and sat across from each other, Harry setting aside his weapons as he sat. Both Jedi took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, letting any tension they may have had flow out of them. After doing that a few times, the two were relaxed enough to start their training session.

Fay opened her eyes and stared into her Padawan's. "Okay. I will check your mental shields first before attempting to bypass them in several ways. It is up to you to stop me as best you can. The exercise will end when I have breached your shields, understand?"

Harry nodded and prepared himself for what he knew was coming.

The first sign he got that Fay was attacking his mental shields was a light _tap_ on the edge of his shields. The first time that happened he had reflexively tightened his shields in that 'direction', leaving himself open to attack from 'behind'. One thing that he learned about mental 'bouts' was that direction was relative. There was technically no up and down or left and right inside the mind but since orienting oneself into a perspective where such things didn't exist was much too difficult, the mind more or less created the directions.

The problem, of course, was that much like a physical fight, it gave the attacker more angles to attack from. Technically, there was no such thing as 'attacking from behind' or anything like that but since his mind _believed_ it was possible, it was an opening the attacker could exploit.

Yes, it was very confusing to think about and it still gave Harry a headache to even think about. For now, he was just happy to think of his mental shields as actual mental Force barriers protecting his mind from intrusion. As his ability with the Mind Arts grew and he matured, he would be able to create more complex defenses but for now, it worked.

Harry ignored the tap on his mental shields and stayed alert for Fay's true attack. The attack, when it came, came from the back and Harry quickly strengthened his shields in that direction slightly but made sure not to weaken it anywhere else. He felt something try to slither through his shields from the right and he instantly repelled a sneak mental probe in that direction.

This continued for a few minutes before the attacks suddenly ceased. Harry wondered what happened when he felt Fay mentally poke his mental avatar... who was _within_ his mental fortifications.

"_You forgot to watch for attacks from below,"_ said Fay mentally as she withdrew from his mind.

Sighing at that, Harry slowly returned to the living world to see Fay sitting serenely in front of him, not having moved at all during their mental duel.

"You are improving," said Fay calmly with a hint of pride. "It generally takes Jedi many years to have mental defenses as strong as yours, if they have them at all. They still need work but you can work on them as you grow and mature, adding more features along the way."

Harry nodded at that, still annoyed at how he lost to such an obvious oversight but pleased at his Master's words. "Thanks, Master. What now?"

Fay levitated two rocks, each about the size of her fist, between them. "Now, we will practice Transfiguration. My studies show that it's a very good first step into later learning how to use the Force to alter your environment."

Harry nodded and concentrated on the rock before him. He gathered the Force and gently waved his hand over the rock to his right. The rock shuddered before slowly transforming into a bird made out of stone. Slowly, the stone bird gained color, blue specifically, as well as the stone turning into flesh. Eventually, the rock finished transforming into a bird which then blinked as life breathed into it. The bird chirped for a moment, looking around before flying off.

Harry watched it go, knowing the Force energy used to transfigure it would fade soon and it would turn back into a rock. He had a happy smile on his face at his succes before turning back to his Master who was similarly smiling.

"Well done, Harry," said Fay proudly. "Now do it again."

Harry did as he was told and transfigured the second rock into a bird as well. He almost lost control at one point due to excitement but he regained control in time. The second bird flew off much like the first as both Harry and Fay watched with smiles.

"Good job, Harry," said Fay with satisfaction. "I believe we can say you've learned the basics of transfiguration. As time passes, you'll learn to do it with different and larger animals and in less time. For now, your goal is to make it take less than two seconds to complete before going to larger and more complex animals. Remember, it's best to use animals you're familiar with since you need to know the target animal's biology to do it correctly."

Harry nodded, remembering how it took him almost a month to learn everything about the bird he was trying to transfigure the rock into. "I know, Master. Is this all that falls under Transfiguration?"

"Oh no," denied Fay easily. "According to my studies, Transfiguration has many different sub-categories. Everything from Conjuration, which is basically transforming the air into what you wish, to Vanishing, which is the opposite, destroying the molecular bonds holding something together so it "vanishes" into non-existence. But this is the absolute basics and it is up to you to continue your studies into it if you wish. Remember, as your Master it is my job to open up all the possible paths you could take but it is up to _you_ to choose which paths you wish to pursue."

Harry nodded and bit his lip in thought, wondering if he should voice something that had been bothering him.

Fay sensed his indecision and smiled comfortingly. "You can ask me anything, Harry. I promise I won't bite."

Harry blushed in embarrassment at her teasing tone before speaking. "Well, Master... you said that the people of my world use the Force in a more limited way than Jedi, right? Then why do my people have so many more complex branches and stuff than Jedi do? I don't think Jedi have stuff like Runes or Apparition, do they?"

Fay smiled slightly at her apprentice's observation. "I was wondering when you'd ask. No, Jedi do not have anything like Apparition or at least not in the same way. The only thing close to it is a Dark-side equivalent which is basically summed up in tearing a hole in space/time to another place in the galaxy and closing it behind you. For obvious reasons, this is a very bad idea and so is not taught. However, your people managed to find a way to do something similar, if on a smaller scale without danger to anything but yourself. Why is this?"

"There are various factors as to this," started Fay in her normal lecturing tone. "First, is the amount of power accessible to both sides. Say that this staff," Fay had grabbed a wooden staff she'd left there from their last sparring match, "symbolizes the amount of power available to your people while a lightsaber symbolizes the Jedi. In terms of pure power and in fair combat on even grounds, the lightsaber would cut through the staff every time without problem, correct?"

"However," continued Fay. "One must take several things into account. The lightsaber has but one use: combat. You can't use it to light a fire since it burns too hot to light a spark or for anything but cutting through things. I guess one could use it to cut logs but that's all. The wooden staff, however, can be used for combat as well as a walking cane and to reach high places. I could attach a spearhead to one end and turn it into a spear or even, due to how flexible this wood is, whittle it down and turn it into a bow. Despite it being inferior to the lightsaber, it has many more uses."

"The same could be said to your people's 'magic'," pointed out Fay calmly. "They had access to less power but due to this, they learned to adapt. The learned to do more with less. They explored every use for their 'staff'' and honed it to perfection. The Jedi, however, varied very little and it could actually be said that the Order became more indoctrinated and rigid as the millennia passed. The Order nowadays heavily frowns on or outright forbids experimentation into uses in the Force outside of accepted Jedi doctrine. It is something that I dislike but have been unable to change."

"Another thing that differentiates Jedi from wizards is our ways of teaching. Your people start with less power and slowly grow stronger as time passes on. Similarly, you first teach your younglings weaker 'spells' that require skill. Power plus skill is the hallmark of your most accomplished 'wizards' much like Jedi Master but unlike us, you learn skill first and power comes along later."

"On the other hand, the first thing a Jedi youngling learns is the Force Push. A brute force technique with very little finesse or required skill to learn. This symbolizes how the Jedi teach. Brute force is taught first and the youngling learns skill and finesse as they mature."

"These differences are important because of how it affects how they enter combat or view a situation. Due to the emphasis on skill when they first learn 'magic', wizards fall back on it when pressed. When faced against a stronger opponent, a skilled wizard would try to control the battlefield to his advantage and use what skills he had in new ways to gain the upper hand. A Jedi, on the other hand, would just up the ante and use stronger, more powerful attacks in an attempt to overpower their opponent. The most blatant example of this is my former master Yoda. My master's way of fighting revolves an all-out offense in lightsaber combat and if that fails using large scale Force abilities to overwhelm his opponent. And if that fails he'd be too tired to do much else, leading to his defeat. It is actually how I once beat him in a spar. I simply outlasted him."

"However," said Fay with a firm tone. "The biggest difference is in our histories."

Harry looked confused at his master's words. "History? I know it's different because we were in a single planet and the Jedi were in the galaxy but what specifically?"

Fay sighed as she gathered her thoughts. "If we compare the last five millennia of the Jedi and your people, we will see one difference. While both our peoples had wars against enemy Force-users, or magicals in your case, your enemies never sought to destroy all trace of you. The Sith, on the other hand, always tried to destroy us completely and did this by destroying any records or holocrons of our Order. This caused much knowledge to be lost and we basically had to start from scratch again and again. The biggest disaster was the Jedi Purge following the Jedi Civil War almost four thousand years ago. We were almost completely destroyed and while we managed to rebuild ourselves, much was lost. Almost thirty millennia of knowledge, wisdom and history... lost forever. What remained were scraps of history and the basics. And even afterwards, we had war after war with the Sith, never having much time to sit and truly explore all the avenues of the Force available to us."

"The wizards, on the other hand, had many Dark Lords that rose and fell but they never attempted to completely destroy all traces of wizarding knowledge. On the contrary, many of them added and pioneered new branches of 'magic', even if most of them were Dark in origin. The biggest loss in knowledge your people sustained was recently when the non-magicals launched those nuclear bombs. Even then, your biggest repository of knowledge was left intact, meaning you didn't have to start from scratch. In that way, your people's growth was more or less peaceful and you were free to expand and explore new avenues of knowledge without a problem. Unlike the Jedi, with their narrow view of the Force, your people liked that and so were mostly free to experiment as they wished with few restrictions."

"All this," concluded Fay at last. "made your people much more varied in terms of Force techniques accessible with your limited capabilities compared to the Jedi. I imagine if the Order wasn't as doctrined or narrow-minded as it is and we had many more millennia of peace to explore all avenues of the Force, we would have discovered similar techniques and abilities."

Harry mulled over his Master's words and found he understood them more or less. The comparison to a wooden staff and a lightsaber made it easier. It was similar to the age-old argument of skill vs power. His people may lack the raw power Jedi have but make up for it in refining their skill with what they do have to the point that they could go match most Jedi Masters. It was something to keep in mind when he thought of his own training. If he could combine the best of both words, the raw power of the jedi with the emphasis on skill of the wizards... that would be _awesome_!

"Now," said Fay with a smile as if reading his thoughts. "You've advanced quite well in your training and learned most of what I wished to teach you when I brought you here."

Harry blinked at that and smiled excitedly. "Does that mean its time to leave for somewhere else?"

Fay smirked slightly but shook her head. "Not quite yet. There's one final test you need to pass. The test of competence given to all Felucian shamans. Once you pass that then I'll know you're ready for the next step in your training."

Harry froze at her words and looked away. "You mean... to tame a rancor?"

Fay looked unfazed by his reaction and nodded. "Indeed. I already tamed the Ancient Abyss itself and that is how I became a chieftain. Now you must tame a rancor or similar predator to show your own mastery of the skill. It shouldn't be too hard. You've always had a talent for the ability."

Harry looked uncomfortable with her words, fidgeting slightly. "I... haven't had much luck with it since... Buster's death. My last try at it ended up with me almost being eaten."

Fay didn't bat an eye at his discomfort and blandly continued. "And that may be why you fail. Remember, do or do not. There is no try."

Harry shuffled uncomfortably but nodded. "As you say, Master."

Eyes softening, Fay stood up. "Come, apprentice. It's becoming late and we don't wish to miss the bonfire tonight. Tomorrow, you and other Felucians who are coming of age will go into the wilderness and tame a rancor to acknowledge your entrance into adulthood."

Harry gulped but nodded before following his master back to camp.

* * *

**Felucian camp, Felucia, Thaunium Worlds, Outer Rim Territories**

**Two minutes before midnight of the same day**

The hut where Fay and Harry stayed wasn't that big. Big enough for the both of them to live comfortably but without much extra space beyond that. The Felucians were a pragmatic race and didn't see the point of extra space that wouldn't be used. There were two cots for them to sleep, the trunk against a nearby wall and a few other basic necessities for living lying around.

Harry was sleeping deeply in his cot, completely unconcerned and feeling safe despite the hut having no door. Harry had learned that no wild animals ever sneaked into the Felucian camp due to the strong Force presence of the shamans. It had only become more effective with his and Fay's presence which scared off any but the most violent of predators and those were rarely nocturnal.

However, while Harry was sleeping peacefully, another in the hut was not asleep at all.

Fay stood over her apprentice's sleeping form with a frown on her face. She gently laid a finger on her apprentice's head and closed her eyes so as to better focus on her mental skills as she gently entered her apprentice's mind. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for, already knowing where it was.

There, within her apprentice's mind, was the darkness she'd first sensed when she met Harry. At first, she'd thought it was just the effect of his harsh childhood leaving its mark on him. She had seen similar things in former slaves who were treated especially cruelly and so she thought it would eventually fade with time.

But when it didn't fade and actually seem to be getting stronger, she knew she had to investigate.

She decided to teach him Occlumency both to strengthen his mind against whatever this darkness was and as an excuse to investigate his mind for the source of this darkness. To her disquiet, he had learned Occlumency quite quickly despite his age. Most eight year olds could hardly stand still much less control their emotions to such a degree so his ability to do so was slightly unnerving. Regardless, it allowed her to focus more on investigating the darkness and her findings had been alarming.

The darkness turned out to actually be a piece of someone's soul that had attached itself to Harry's own Force presence when he was very young. It was a very small piece, barely a smidgeon but it had been getting stronger by feeding on Harry's Force energy. While it was so small that it lacked true sentience, only having enough to be classified as semi-sentient, and therefore could never truly forcibly take control of Harry's body, it was still dangerous.

Fay had then used the Occlumency sessions to strengthen Harry's mind so the soul piece wouldn't affect his conscious mind. It had already entrenched itself into his subconscious but thanks to Occlumency it would never be able to affect his conscious mind as well. Fay had also carefully cut the soul piece connections to Harry's Force presence meaning it could no longer feed on his Force energy to get stronger. As it was, the soul piece was no stuck in his subconscious with no way to get stronger or affect his conscious mind.

Still, the soul piece's affect on his subconscious was bad. While it couldn't enforce an emotion or thought that Harry didn't already have, it could augment emotions already buried there. An example was Harry's fear of connecting to another creature through the Force lest they die like Buster did. It had gotten so bad that Harry had temporarily lost his ability to communicate with animals through the Force and wouldn't be able to regain it until he overcame his fear.

This influence of the soul piece was why Fay hadn't tried to get rid of it. She could easily use Force Light to purge it from Harry's system but she feared it lashing out at Harry's subconscious in retaliation before it was completely purged. Who knew what kind of damage it could cause before it was completely purged? So for now, she would slowly starve it of strength and once Harry purged it from his subconscious, which as his Occlumency developed would happen naturally, she would destroy it once and for all.

Fay sighed as she opened her eyes and stared down at her apprentice. Jedi were not supposed to form attachments but she was growing attached to her young apprentice. Sometimes she wondered if this was what it felt to have a son.

Shaking it off, Fay went to her bed to sleep. Tomorrow promised to be an important day.

* * *

**Felucian camp, Felucia, Thaunium Worlds, Outer Rim Territories**

**The next day**

Harry was standing amongst a group of older Felucians who, along with him, would be going into the wild alone in hope of taming a rancor. He had his usual outfit and only his spear on his back. A bow and arrow would do little if he needed to defend himself against a rampaging rancor so it would just be extra weight. The act of taming a rancor would be the same as 'graduating' from the Felucian shaman teachings and they would be allowed to leave from under their master's wing and go on their own.

For Harry, this would mark the end of another stage in his training and the end of his time on Felucia. If he failed he would have to wait another year till he had another chance which meant another year spent on Felucia. His Master assured him that there was no rush and he could take his time but he didn't want to fail and possibly disappoint his Master. Especially not after everything she'd done for him.

As he stood there waiting for the time to leave, his Master approached with her usual serene look on her face. "Are you ready, young Padawan?"

Harry took a deep breath and pushed down his nervousness and uncertainty. "I think so."

Fay raised an eyebrow at his words. "You _think_?"

Harry used Occlumency to bury his emotions and stood up straight. "Yes, I'm ready."

Fay studied him for a moment before slowly nodding. "Very well. Remember, there is no time limit to when you must bring back the tamed rancor. However, if you return without one then you automatically fail the trial." Both turned when they saw the chieftain give the signal for the potential shamans to leave, something the others quickly took advantage of and ran into the jungle. Turning to her apprentice, Fay gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you'll do fine, Harry. May the Force be with you, my apprentice."

"And with you, Master," echoed Harry easily.

That said, Harry quickly ran into the jungle, heading in the opposite direction of the other shaman potentials. They were heading toward the regular rancor breeding grounds, where it was almost always assured that you'd find at least one. However, if they all went to the same place, then they'd probably get in each other's way trying to tame a rancor or else fight over the ones there if there were less rancors than potentials shamans.

Fay watched Harry disappear into the underbrush with an inscrutable look on her face. "I hope you overcome what's been haunting you, my young apprentice. Only in doing so will you pass this test."

Back with Harry, he let the Force lead him toward where he felt another rancor herd was located. His plan was to get one alone and tame it using the Force before leading it back to camp. Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long and he could proudly say he was a fully-recognized Felucian shaman... even if the title didn't much outside of Felucia.

As Harry made his way toward the rancor herd, his mind went back to his previous failures to bond with anything. Every time he tried, his mind would go back to Buster and the bond would shatter. He didn't know why it did. He had accepted Buster's death and understood it wasn't the hound's fault. So why did his death still haunt him and why did it stop him from using the Force to tame other animals?

Harry made good time and eventually reached the rancor herd which were staying in a large clearing surrounded by fungal trees that almost blocked out all of the sunlight. It held about ten adult rancors of which three were females that had children of their own. Making sure to stay quiet and hidden so as to not grab their attention, Harry studied the herd for the best target. He obviously wanted one separated from the rest so as to not be attacked from behind while trying to tame it. If he couldn't find one already separated from the rest, he'd have to use the Force to subtly _nudge_ all but one into leaving the area for a while.

However, it seemed as it wouldn't be necessary because the herd was moving out of their sleeping area to hunt, leaving only a single male behind. From what Harry saw, the male seemed to be wounded, probably by another rancor during their usual ferocious attacks on each other. This was perfect since it left Harry with a lone rancor to tame. Just to make sure he wouldn't be interrupted, Harry sent a subtle Force nudge at the rancors that made it so they wouldn't return for a long while.

Once they walked out of sight, Harry made sure the coast was clear before slowly and quietly making his way toward the lone male rancor left behind. He quietly jumped into the fungal trees and silently crawled up them till he was hidden in the canopy above the rancor. Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Harry reached out with the Force in an attempt to calm the rancor first. Once that worked, he would then jump down and try to bend its will under his own and take it back to the camp.

Harry instantly felt the rancor's resistance to his attempts at calming it. It was harder than it would be with other carnivores since rancors were almost never calm in any way. They hunted almost all the time, killed each other when necessary and even ate their own young at times. Creatures like that weren't exactly easy to tame and their anger could usually overcome most attempts to tame it.

However, it was for this very reason that they were a sign of competence amongst the shamans. It was thought that if one could overcome and tame a creature that was basically a living embodiment of rage then it would be easy to control one's own anger and prevent falling to the dark side.

Harry had his eyes closed as he sent waves of calm at the rancor, made easier since it couldn't sense him or any other threat within the vicinity. This would be much harder if it caught sight of him and almost impossible if it perceived him as a threat. The survival instincts would be too strong to overcome as it lashed out at him in an attempt to defend itself, especially since it was wounded.

Harry sensed as the normal aggression that all rancors had even when not in a fight slowly disappeared or at least lowered itself to almost nonexistence. Harry made sure not to go too far and mistakenly cause it to fall asleep though because that would be embarrassing.

Once sure it was sufficiently calmed, Harry jumped down to the ground, landing in front of the calmed rancor. Harry sensed the rancor's aggression spike for a moment at the sight of him but Harry simply reinforced its calm more strongly, causing it to settle down in front of him once more.

Now was the hard part and the part he had failed at doing ever since they arrived in Felucia. He had to 'empathize' with the creature in order to form a sort of pseudo-Force bond between them. This was obviously harder than it looked and many a Jedi simply forced the bond creating sub-standard bonds with the creature, increasing the risk of the creature breaking free. For aggressive and powerful carnivorous animals like the rancor, such a sub-standard bond wouldn't work in the slightest.

So Harry reached out with the Force and started to empathize with the rancor. He saw images of some of the rancor's acts and made sure to not let a bit of disgust or negative emotion filter through since it would destroy the forming bond.

As the bond formed, Harry was hit with emotions associated with the rancor. After all, an empathic bond worked both ways and if he could send emotions to the rancor then it could do the same to him. Harry used Occlumency to control his emotions and not let the emotions he was receiving go and ruin the forming bond.

However, all his work became undone when he was hit with a particular memory. It was one of the rancor attacking a Felucian and eating him. Since Harry was connected to him empathetically, Harry felt the rancor's joy at the meal and the Felucian dying struggles in its jaw and throat. The entire experience reminded Harry strongly of Buster's death and the fact that Harry had become friends with several Felucians only made it worse.

Harry's distress forcibly broke the forming connection between Harry and the rancor, causing it to roar in rage once it was free from his influence. Cursing internally at his failure, Harry had to dodge to the side and use the spear as a polevault to escape its swipes with its claws. Harry was pushed to his limit to outrun the rampaging rancor and tried repeatedly to jump into the canopy where the rancor couldn't reach him only to fail. The rancor, despite being injured, was fast enough to make any attempt suicidal. Hr wouldn't be able to dodge any swipes in the air so if he failed he would quickly become the rancor's new meal.

Harry was so caught up in dodging the rancor's attempts that he forgot to look where he was going and almost ran off a steep cliff. Eyes widening when he heard the rancor rushing him, Harry made a split second decision and jumped off the cliff, using the Force to empower him as he slid down the cliff wall.

Up above, the rancor wasn't as lucky and it quickly fell off the cliff due to its momentum. Harry looked up in fear as he saw the rancor's body was aiming toward him as he slid down the cliff wall and was forced to push off the wall to avoid being crushed.

Now in free-fall, Harry bounced off the opposing cliff wall, desperately trying to control his descent without much success.

The last thing Harry saw was a large river at the bottom of the ravine right before he slammed into it, sending him straight into unconsciousness.

* * *

**AN: Originally, the chapter was going to be a longer but my muse was drying up so I decided to end it here. Exams are becoming more common so I'm having less free time but I'm going to try to update from now on every Friday.**

**Next chapter introduces a new character. She's not OC and is actually a part of the SW universe but I don't think anyone has really used her character before. She'll become important in my story though.**

**Please Review!**


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